The explosion of the service station in Rome injures dozens of people:

An explosion of the service station shook a neighborhood in southeastern Rome on Friday, wounding at least 25, including first 10 to respond, authorities said.

The explosion was heard throughout the Italian capital shortly after 8 am local time and sent a huge cloud of dark smoke and fire that was visible from the entire city.

The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, said that the local police and firefighters rushed the Prenestino neighborhood after receiving a report from a gas leak. Two explosions followed after they arrived, he added.

“The Local Police immediately evacuated a nearby sports center, while other officers evacuated buildings on the other side of the service station, avoiding a much more serious tragedy,” Gualtieri said.

Elisabetta Accardo, spokesman for the Police of Rome, said that 16 residents were injured, including two who were in “severe conditions” and were hospitalized at the Casilino hospital in Rome.

“Nine of the injured are from the body of application of the law – Police and Carabinier, and one is a firefighter,” he said. “But fortunately they are not in conditions that threaten life.”

Fifteen fire fighting teams were on the site trying to control the fire.

The photographs and videos of the scene showed a generalized devastation after the explosion, including vehicles and burned buildings.

“The explosion was really powerful. I felt that my skin was burning,” Michele Secu, a 23 -year -old boy who worked in the now destroyed sports center, told News.

Massimo Bartoletti told the local media Roma Repubblica that the first explosion was a “classic fire ball” and that the second that followed was “infernal.”

“A burning fungus formed in heaven. He made the whole area shake. It looked like hell, everything flew in the sky,” he added.

Roma prosecutors have begun an investigation into the cause of the explosion, which could be related to an anterior gas leak during the liquefied petroleum gas discharge phase at the station.

The sports center near the service station was quickly evacuated by the police after the first explosion.

Balzani Fabio, head of the sports center, told News that they were around the site for a summer camp and that some 120 people were reserved to use the pool on Friday morning.

“It would have been a massacre, a catastrophe,” Balzani told News.

Police said they checked the surrounding area for injured or trapped in nearby buildings.

Barbara Bielardinelli said she and her daughter were a little wounded when they heard the first explosion and left their home to investigate before the next explosion hit them.

“As soon as we listened to the second explosion, we were also run over by a fireball. I thought that a car near us exploded, the metal fragments flew in the air,” he said. “We feel the fire on the skin, my daughter’s arm is still red, it was horrible.”

Other residents said the explosion was so strong and violent that they hit the nearby buildings “like an earthquake”, breaking windows and starting blinds.

Pope Leo XIV said he was praying for those affected by the explosion, which happened “in the heart of my diocese.”

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said he was following the developments.

In a publication on social networks, she wrote: “I express my closeness to all those who are injured, including the agents of the law, firefighters and health workers, and extend my sincere thanks to those involved in rescue and safety operations.”

• Italy