NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Police, firefighters and a bomb squad rushed to the scene of a explosion on the Yale campus Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities said the incident occurred in a classroom in a building at 127 Wall Street. The sprawling building was evacuated, but school employees said most co-workers had left before the blast.
Police said the building, which is part of the Yale School Of Law, was not on fire. Police and Mayor John DeStefano conducted a new conference about two hours after the explosion.
"Around 4:30 p.m., we received a report of an explosion in a classroom," DeStefano said. "There was damage inside that classroom and the adjacent room. A wall fell in, but there was no structural damage. There was some water damage, but no windows were blown out."
DeStefano said the building was being used for exams in the morning. No one was in the classroom at the time of the explosion. Authorities said they have not received reports of injuries.
"We suspect it was some kind of device that caused the explosion," DeStefano (pictured, left) added. "Having been in the room, I can tell you it was contained to the classroom."
There were no initial indications that an international terrorist organization set off the device, according to two U.S. officials who are familiar with intelligence information. They spoke on the condition of anonymity.
"We have not received any threats prior to the incident today, and we've received no claims of responsibility," said Michael J. Wolf, special agent in charge of the FBI in Connecticut.
The law school will be closed Thursday and Friday. Its commencement, which had been scheduled to take place in the building Monday, will likely be moved to another location, university spokesman Tom Conroy said.
Yale's undergraduate commencement exercises are also scheduled for next Monday.
Witnesses told NBC 30 Connecticut News that they saw an explosion and a blast of debris.
Alexandra Alperovich, a law school student, said she was sitting in the student lounge when she heard the explosion. She saw a wall to the alumni lounge collapse.
"It was very smoky. Everything started falling and I just ran out right away," she said.
Alperovich said she was not sure whether anyone was in the alumni lounge at the time. She said she could not tell where explosion originated.
Some students who were in the building at the time of the explosion said they were being called into the Sterling Library and questioned by the FBI Wednesday night, The Associated Press reported.
A spokeswoman for the FBI in New Haven said members of the agency's Joint Terrorism Task Force were dispatched to the scene.
Seven explosive-sniffing dogs were dispatched to scour the law school and other buildings, the
New Haven Register reported. A police source told the newspaper the search could last well into the night.
Several people said the explosion appeared to originated near the student and alumni lounges.
Sari Bashi, another law school student, said she was about to get into an elevator when she heard the explosion.
"There was a lot of debris and dust coming down. Some doors to a classroom have blown out," she said.
Law student Bob Hoo said he was standing in the hallway of the ground floor when he heard the explosion.
"I saw a huge fireball come out to the middle of the hallway," he said. "It was an instantaneous blast. It was there and then it was gone."
Hoo said he did not see anything catch fire and did not see anyone injured. He said he fled the building as fast as he could.
The incident came as the nation was on elevated alert for possible terrorist attacks and several hours after President George W. Bush -- a Yale alumnus -- visited the state to speak at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduation ceremony in New London.
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Explosion On Yale Campus
