Shards of glass rained down from a building under construction near Bryant Park Tuesday morning, sending people running for safety and causing major traffic congestion in the busy Midtown area.

A window pane being installed at the Bank of America building at One Bryant Park on the corner of 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue came loose, crashing into another pane, before falling onto the scaffolding below.

“Our foreman actually noticed it, looked up and he actually yelled out, ‘Glass!’ We all got up and started running inside the building,” said Charlie Castillo, who was working in the area. “We got inside before it landed.”

The impact shattered the panel, and sent glass raining down on pedestrians along 42nd Street and into the busy intersection, creating momentary panic.

“Everybody just scattered – people knocking down chairs and everything, just trying to get out of the way,” said a witness.

Some people say they thought a bomb was going off.

“I heard an explosion, like a big sound, ‘Boom!’ and a crash,” said one witness.

“It sounded like a bomb,” added another.

“Like something snapped, like a really loud noise, and then the glass came down,” added a third.

"We thought it was a terrorist attack again,” added a fourth. “I was so scared. It's crazy, everyone was running, holding their hats, and I was in so much shock I didn't run, I just stood there."

"There was a loud noise coming from the top. We looked up and then the glass started coming down and it was everywhere, like in every corner," added another.

This isn't the first time an accident has happened at the site. In October, a bucket filled with construction debris fell 53 stories, crashing into several windows on the way down. Eight people were injured, but none seriously.

As frightening as this most recent incident was, the scaffolding absorbed the impact of the falling glass. There were just two minor injuries reported.

The NYPD and the FDNY moved people into Bryant Park in order to knock down a few more panes of glass to prevent them from causing any more damage. Traffic through the area was disrupted while the Fire Department made sure the danger was past and debris was cleaned from the street.

As was the case after the earlier incident, the buildings department issued a stop work order for all exterior construction, while the cause is investigated.