Police: 7 injured in gas explosion in New York's Chinatown

(CNN) -- Seven people were injured, including three critically, in an apparent gas explosion in the basement of a five-story building in New York City's Chinatown area on Thursday afternoon, New York Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said.

Firefighters found a partially collapsed first floor at 17 Pike Street, as well as a fire in the building, after they were called shortly before 12:45 p.m., the New York City Fire Department said.

Video from CNN affiliate WABC showed on stretchers being taken to ambulances.

It wasn't immediately clear what the basement and first floors were used for. Browne said the building contained apartments; the fire department said it was a mixed-occupancy building.