An explosion rocked a gas station in Rome on Friday, injuring several people, including eight police officers and a firefighter, officials said. The blast from the explosion was so loud that it was heard across the city.
A fuel tank at the gas station, in an eastern neighborhood of the city, exploded around 8:15 on Friday morning, the Rome police said. The station sold liquefied petroleum gas.
Firefighters and police officers called to the gas station after an earlier incident involving a truck were on the scene when the explosion took place, said Luca Cari, a spokesman for the Italian fire service. The cause was not yet known, Mr. Cari said, and he had no further information about the earlier episode.
“We only know that there was an explosion,” Mr. Cari said. After the blast, firefighters were working to douse a blaze that had started behind the station in a parking lot with cars confiscated by the judicial authorities, he added.
Footage began circulating on Friday morning showing the effect of the blast. One video featured chunks of plaster that had landed hundreds of yards away. In another, a resident of a neighboring building said that windows had exploded and showed part of a door frame that had detached.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy and Mayor Roberto Gualtieri of Rome said that they were monitoring the situation. Ms. Meloni sent her sympathies to the injured and thanked those who were working to secure the area.
The explosion occurred about 15 minutes before Roberto De Carolis opened his hairdressing supply store close to the gas station. The police blocked him from going to the store, but he said he saw on surveillance video that multiple windows had been shattered.
“I can’t imagine what it is like inside,” he said. “Thank God it happened before” the store opened, he said.
Elisabetta Povoledo is a Times reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years.
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