This Sunday morning, a powerful explosion rocked Rome and resulted in the collapse of three apartment buildings near the motorway linking the Italian capital to Fiumicino International Airport.
According to authorities, the disaster was caused by an explosion of a gas cylinder powerful enough to completely demolish the buildings in Rome’s Piana del Sole district. Italian firefighting forces who rushed to the scene fought against time under tons of rubble.
An elderly couple, aged 84 and 86, were pulled from the wreckage with serious injuries and rushed to hospital. While around 70 people were forced to evacuate surrounding buildings as a precautionary measure and remain on the street awaiting instructions from civil protection authorities.
One of the three apartment buildings almost completely collapsed and, said Eternal City mayor Roberto Gualtieri, who rushed to the scene of the explosion, “the damage caused is a huge surprise”. Gualtieri added that the municipal authority would offer all necessary assistance to those affected.
Firefighters are continuing to dig under the debris to rule out that there may be other trapped people. The help of specially trained dogs is crucial in this effort.
The blast also caused extensive damage to adjacent buildings, with several parked cars being swept away by debris.
“The walls of the buildings were completely destroyed. The picture refers to a bombed-out landscape,” eyewitnesses told local media.
The area remains cordoned off while fire experts conduct an investigation into the exact cause of the gas cylinder ignition.
