A huge explosion at a petrol station in Rome this morning has left at least 21 people injured, some with severe burns, and caused residents to flee their homes.
Shocking footage showed fires raging and a thick cloud of smoke emanating from the site of the blast – a petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) station on Via dei Gordiani in the Italian capital’s eastern Prenestino district.
The punishing explosion, which erupted at 8.18am this morning according to Italian media, levelled the entire lot.
Clips shared to social media by horrified locals showed blackened tarmac littered with debris at the scene, while a webcam feed managed to capture the mushroom-cloud-like explosion rising over the city.
Emergency services were already at the scene before the blast. They had been called minutes earlier amid reports that a truck hit a petrol pump at the service station and caused a fire, Italian news agencies reported.
Elisabetta Accardo, a spokesperson for the Roman police, explained that fire triggered a small explosion which set off a devastating chain reaction.
‘There were a few chain explosions after the first one,’ Accardo told Italian state broadcaster RAI.
At least nine police and fire service workers were hurt, five of which were rushed to hospital with significant burns and injuries from broken glass, though no one has yet been reported killed.
One eyewitness told Italian outlet La Repubblica that it looked as though a bomb had gone off.
‘I was running, as the crow flies I was less than a hundred meters from the gas pump,’ Massimo Bartoletti said.
‘I saw the first explosion with the classic fireball. Shortly after came the second one which was hellish. A fiery mushroom cloud formed in the sky. It shook the whole area. It looked like hell, everything was flying in the sky’.
Parts of a fuel tanker were reportedly blown hundreds of metres away from the station, such was the force of the blast.
‘We are working on a tank explosion … the fire is still ongoing,’ the fire department said in a statement, adding one of their officers had been hospitalised.
Fire department spokesperson Luca Cari later confirmed that one firefighter was injured but ‘not seriously.’ Ten teams were at work on the site, he added.
A damaged ambulance caught in the blast was seen sitting at the scene, with its bonnet and front doors charred.
The explosion caused structural damage to several nearby buildings, shattering windows, and started a fire that spread to a judicial building located behind the petrol station.
Rome’s public transport agency Atac said it closed a nearby metro station following instructions from police, who were performing checks at a nearby nursery and sports centre to ensure no one there was hurt.
Several hospitals in Rome, including San Giovanni, Sandro Pertini and Sant’Eugenio, were all alerted about possible incoming trauma victims.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni commented on social media: ‘I am closely following the consequences of the explosion that occurred this morning at a gas station in the Prenestino neighbourhood of Rome.
‘I have spoken to the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, and I remain in constant contact with Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano and the competent authorities to monitor the evolution of the situation.’
