A gas station explosion rocked a neighborhood in southeastern Rome on Friday, injuring at least 25, including 10 first responders, authorities said.
The explosion was heard across the Italian capital shortly after 8 a.m. local time and sent a huge cloud of dark smoke and fire that was visible from across the city.
Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said that local police and firefighters rushed to the Prenestino neighborhood after receiving a report of a gas leak. Two explosions followed after they arrived, he added.
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“Local police immediately evacuated a sports center nearby, while other officers evacuated buildings on the other side of the gas station, avoiding a much more serious tragedy,” Gualtieri said.
Elisabetta Accardo, Rome’s police spokeswoman, said that 16 residents were injured, including two who were in “severe conditions,” and were hospitalized at Rome’s Casilino hospital.
“Nine of the injured are from law enforcement corps — police and carabinieri — and one is a firefighter,” she said. “But luckily they are not in life-threatening conditions.”
Fifteen firefighting teams were at the site trying to bring the fire under control.
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Photographs and videos from the scene showed widespread devastation after the blast, including burnt-out vehicles and buildings.
“The explosion was really powerful. I felt my skin burning,” Michele Secu, a 23-year-old who worked at the now-destroyed sports center, told AFP.
Massimo Bartoletti told local news outlet Roma Repubblica that the first explosion was a “classic fireball” and that the second one that followed was “hellish.”
“A fiery mushroom formed in the sky. It made the whole area shake. It looked like hell, everything was flying in the sky,” he added.
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Rome prosecutors have begun an investigation into the cause of the explosion, which could be related to a previous gas leak during the unloading phase of liquified petroleum gas at the station.
The sports center near the gas station was evacuated swiftly by police following the first explosion.
Balzani Fabio, head of the sports center, told AFP that around 60 children were due at the site for a summer camp and some 120 people were booked to use the swimming pool on Friday morning.
“It would have been a massacre, a catastrophe,” Balzani told AFP.
Police said they checked the surrounding area for people who were injured or trapped in nearby buildings.
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Barbara Belardinelli said that she and her daughter were slightly injured when they heard the first explosion and left their home to investigate before the next explosion struck them.
“As soon as we heard the second explosion, we were also hit by a ball of fire. I thought that a car near us exploded, metal fragments were flying in the air,” she said. “We felt the fire on the skin, the arm of my daughter is still red, it was horrible.”
Other residents said the explosion was so loud and violent it struck nearby buildings “like an earthquake,” breaking windows and ripping off shutters.
Pope Leo XIV said that he was praying for those affected by the explosion, which happened “in the heart of my Diocese.”
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was closely following the developments.
In a post on social media, she wrote: “I express my closeness to all those who are injured — including law enforcement officers, firefighters and health workers — and I extend my heartfelt thanks to those involved in the rescue and safety operations”.
