Five people seen climbing out of an Upper East Side manhole, latest in string of sewer dives

Five people were seen climbing out of a manhole on the Upper East Side early Friday, the NYPD said, the latest in a run of late-night sewer excursions that has puzzled New Yorkers since the spring.

Officers responded to a call outside an apartment building on East 82nd Street at about 2:10 a.m. and were told a group of five had come up out of the sewer and driven off, Gothamist reported. ABC7 New York said the group, which included at least one woman, left in a black SUV toward East End Avenue. Police and the city's Department of Environmental Protection pulled two shovels and two other tools from the scene, according to ABC7. No arrests have been made.

A pattern since May

Friday's sighting is at least the seventh time since May that groups have been seen going into or coming out of sewers in the city and on Long Island, and the second on the Upper East Side in just over two weeks, according to Gothamist. Earlier incidents were reported near Penn Station and in Brooklyn neighborhoods from Williamsburg to Bensonhurst and Gravesend.

Last month, during the U.N. General Assembly, a group surfaced near Park Avenue and East 61st Street. Two Queens men were later arrested and charged with trespass and conspiracy, ABC7 reported. They told detectives they went in to look for valuables that wash into storm drains and sewers.

The NYPD has said people enter the sewers to hunt for valuables and scrap metal after storms. DEP has repeatedly warned that going into the sewer system is illegal and extremely dangerous.