WASHINGTON (TNND) — The New York Police Department is investigating a new video of people exiting a Manhattan sewer at night, months after footage showed groups climbing out of manholes.
A video posted Friday on TikTok showed two people wearing overalls leaving from the direction of a manhole just before three more climbed out of the sewer.
The manhole was at 32nd Street and Seventh Avenue, near Penn Station and Madison Square Garden, and the incident happened after 4 a.m. Tuesday, the person who posted the video told NBC News.
An NYPD spokesperson said the police are aware of the video.
“There are no arrests and the investigation is ongoing,” the spokesperson said.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection said Sunday that an inspection of the sewers in the area of the incident found that there was no damage to the infrastructure. The agency added that entering the sewers is “both illegal and extremely dangerous.”
“Sewers can contain numerous hazards, including noxious and potentially deadly gases, unstable surfaces, flooding risks, and confined spaces,” the department said. “For these reasons, members of the public should never enter a pipe, drain, catch basin, manhole, or outfall.”
In May, multiple videos showed people entering or exiting sewer tunnels via manholes on streets in Brooklyn and Queens at night. Some of them were seen wearing protective gear, headlamps, and carrying tools.
One group of about seven people was seen exiting a manhole in the middle of a Brooklyn intersection as cars passed by. The NYPD said that the group entered the sewers about 11 p.m. and was seen leaving around 2 a.m., which means that they could have been underground for three hours.
It is unclear if this new incident is connected to those from May.
Sources told the New York Post at the time that the NYPD and Department of Environmental Protection investigations found that the incidents appear to be people scavenging for anything of value. The sources added that urban scavenging for lost valuables like coins, wallets, scrap metal, or jewelry is a more common practice in other countries.
NYPD said at the time that an investigation into those incidents found no immediate threat to the public and no damage to the sewer system.