A huge explosion and fire at a New York power plant have turned the sky above parts of the city a bright blue-green.

Iran Press/America: Many Manhattanites were stunned when the sky over parts of Queens started to glow a bright neon blue shortly after 9 pm on Thursday night local time.

Scores posted footage of the glowing skyline to social media, saying the sky was 'bright as day'. Footage of the scene showed the sky flickering a bright blue-green for several minutes, The Guardian reported.

The strange sight was caused by an explosion at the Astoria power plant in Queens.

“There was a brief electrical fire at our substation in Astoria which involved some electrical transformers and caused a transmission dip in the area. We’re currently investigating the cause of the incident,” Con Edison tweeted.

Police said they were investigating a transformer explosion at the Con Edison plant and advised people to avoid the area. 

The New York fire department confirmed they had received multiple reports of explosions in the Long Island City and Astoria area, which they had responded to. At 10:15 pm they reported the incident was under control and there were no reported injuries and no fire. 211/103

 

Read more:

Explosions heard near US embassy in Baghdad