ROME (Reuters) -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 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the working class Prenestino neighbourhood was heard across the capital just after 8 am (0600 GMT).
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.
"I pray for the people involved in the explosion of a gas station (...) in the heart of my Diocese. I continue to follow the developments of this tragic incident with concern," Pope Leo XIV wrote on X.
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 the explosion.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni thanked the police, firefighters and other emergency services for helping to ensure "that this tragic event didn't have even more serious consequences."
A sports centre that hosts a youth summer camp opposite the station was evacuated before the blast, a representative said in a Facebook video, adding that the five children in its care were safe and back with their families.
The station sported the brand of Eni but was not owned by the Italian energy group, the company said in a statement.
Five people were killed in December last year by an explosion at an Eni fuel depot near Florence.
(Additional reporting by Paolo Chiriatti in Rome and Francesca Landini in Milan; Editing by Kim Coghill and Gavin Jones)
