http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/19/nyregion/chelsea-explosion-victim-thrown.html 2016-09-18 17:43:38 A Routine Night, Until an Explosion Lifted Her Off Her Feet Helena was carrying a bag with wine bottles through the gate of her 23rd Street apartment when she was thrown through the air by an explosion. === In the shadow of Bellevue Hospital Center, cast by a luminescent moon early Sunday, the only hint of the She said her name was Helena, and that doctors told her she was the last bomb victim there to be released. Hurt, exhausted and not wanting any more attention, she did not give her last name. But just after 4 a.m. she told the story of what happened to her. She was walking through the metal gate outside her apartment building on the south side of 23rd Street, where she has lived for 11 years. She carried a bag with some bottles of wine inside. Without warning, an explosion lifted her off her feet. The blast, which injured 29 people, appeared to be an intentional act, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said, though the authorities did not believe it was linked to international terrorism. “It was the biggest blast I ever would imagine; lights flashing, glass shattering,” she said. “It happened so fast I was thrown up and landed down. I didn’t know where it had come from.” She could not guess how high or how far she was thrown. But the cement she landed on was littered with shards of glass, including from her shattered wine bottles. She reached a hand to her face. “I realized there was blood streaming down my face, and I couldn’t see out of my eye,” she said. “I said, ‘Help! Help!’ when I saw the blood.” Around her, the smoke-choked air was filled with the shrieks of bystanders, plus the sirens of emergency vehicles. Someone shouted to her that an ambulance had appeared near the end of the block. With blood pouring from the wound to her right eye, she struggled on injured legs toward it until EMTs met her. “The ambulance, they literally picked me up off the ground,” she said. At Bellevue, she received multiple stitches to a cut at the edge of her right eye. Beneath her black-rimmed glasses it was red and swollen. Her injured legs were also treated. “They patched me up,” she said, a weary smile on her face. Just before a taxi stopped and took her away, she reflected on the Dumpster where officials said the bomb might have been stashed. She knew it well. “It’s been there forever,” she said. “I really didn’t think about it.”