Huge explosion at Rome petrol station injures 45

ROME: A huge explosion at a petrol station in an eastern district of Rome on Friday injured at least 45 people, including 12 police officers and six firefighters, Italian authorities said.

The blast at the distributor of petrol, diesel and LPG in the working class Prenestino neighbourhood was heard across the capital just after 8am. The people hit by the explosion are being treated in local hospitals, Italian news agencies reported, with two in a critical condition due to extensive burns and needing ventilation support.

Website Roma Today published a photograph of a huge ball of flame and smoke rising high into the sky. Separate images released by the fire department showed the petrol station almost completely gutted.

Firefighters and ambulance workers were caught up in the blast as they had been called to the scene earlier, after a truck hit a pipeline at the petrol station, Italian media said. Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri, speaking from the scene, told reporters an incident during fuel-tank refilling operations was suspected, causing a gas leak, followed by a fire and explosion.

(This is a Reuters story)