Context
A fire and two powerful explosions at a shipyard on Staten Island in New York City recently killed one civilian and injured around 36 others.
About Staten Island
- It lies south of Manhattan, between Brooklyn and the state of New Jersey.
- The island is connected to Manhattan by the Staten Island Ferry and to Brooklyn and New Jersey through major bridges, including the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.
- Roughly triangular in shape, it covers about 155 sq. km and has nearly 56 km of waterfront.
- Before European settlement by the Dutch and the English, the island was inhabited by the Native American Lenape people.
- Historic Richmond Town, located near the centre of the island, preserves several restored 17th-century buildings, including houses, farms and schools.
- Owing to its extensive parks, forests and green spaces, Staten Island is known as the “Borough of Parks”.
