Man's leg 'blown off' after explosion in New York's Central Park

A man has been left in critical condition after  an explosion in New York's Central Park.

It is believed that his leg received the brunt of the blast when he stepped on something while climbing rocks, close to where the funeral for Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel was taking place this moing.

It is as of yet unclear what caused the explosion and there is nothing so far to suggest that it was related to the Nobel laureate's duneral.

Photos from the scene show a young man being treated by medical staff after suffering a serious injury to his left foot.

The man lies on a stretcher (Picture: Getty)

The rocky area where it happened (Picture: CBS2)

He was critically injured (Picture: Getty)

53-year-old, John Murphy, witnessed the incident and told the New York Daily News that he stayed with the man after the blast.

‘I saw his friends standing there panicking,’ he said. ‘I saw the young man laying on the grass. His foot is all but gone.

‘His friends claimed he was walking down the rocks and he stepped on it. It looks like there was an explosion’.

There was some suggestion the explosion could have been caused by a firework, but he said the friends denied they were carrying any.

According to a CBS report, a bomb sniffing dog has been brought in to continue the investigation.

Save