Three workers were hurt this afternoon in an electrical explosion that cut power to part of the New York Hilton in Midtown.
Several people were working in an electrical closet in the basement of the hotel at 6th Avenue and West 53rd Street when the equipment exploded at about 1:10 p.m.
One worker walked away from the scene with his arm bandaged. Witnesses said he appeared to have been burned.
None of the workers’ injuries were serious, authorities said.
The power outage also left nine people trapped in two elevators for about a half hour, said firefighters.
Dozens of people attending business meetings in the hotel basement were evacuated.
“I heard an explosion, but it sounded electrical,” said Rob O’Reilly, a Virginia resident. “Then after that, there were four or five explosions. No one knew what was going on. We all got under the table.
“I didn’t panic, but there was definitely unease.”
Guests said lower four floors of the hotel seemed to have been affected most, and that there were no problem in the upper reaches of the 47-story building.
“Some floors are perfectly fine. It’s like nothing happened — like you’re not in the same hotel,” said guest Lindsey Houser. “My floor, the fourth floor – it’s like a ghost town.”
By early evening, power was restored to all the hotel’s elevators, and all guests were allowed to return to their rooms, a concierge said. The hotel expected to have full power restored by 9 p.m.
But because of the problems, some arriving guests were being sent to other hotels.
Though the Hilton’s guest rooms were not evacuated, some events were canceled – including a book signing by Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu, and a breakfast planned tomorrow as part of a convention of real estate investors.