An incident on Sunday evening at New York’s Times Square, US turned into a mass fright after a massive manhole explosion and fire sent hundreds of people running, with videos posted on social media from the scene showing alarmed tourists scrambling to flee.

No one was reportedly injured and no property was impaired.

Local reports claimed a loud explosion sound was heard around 7 pm (local time), while the videos showed people panicking and running down the street.

Authorities affirmed that one manhole exploded in the Times Square area due to cable failure and that a second manhole was smoking.

The area around West 43rd Street & 7th Avenue was closed off as the New York City Fire Department worked to deal with three manhole fires.

Videos shared on social media show frightened tourists and locals fleeing the scene as they try to figure out what was going on.

Firefighters also found one property on West 43rd Street with elevated carbon monoxide levels and aired out the lower levels of the building.