Rome petrol station explosion leaves 40 injured
Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said that local police and firefighters rushed to the area after receiving a report of a gas leak. Two explosions followed after they arrived, he added.
'Local police immediately evacuated a sports centre nearby, while other officers evacuated buildings on the other side of the gas station, avoiding a much more serious tragedy,' Mr Gualtieri said.
Residents were evacuated (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)
Elisabetta Accardo, Rome's police spokeswoman, said that 24 residents were injured, including two who were in 'severe conditions' at Rome's Casilino hospital.
Eleven of the injured are from law enforcement bodies — police and carabinieri — and one is a firefighter but they are not in life-threatening conditions.
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 centre was evacuated swiftly by police following the first explosion, with several children brought to safety. Police said they checked the surrounding area for people who were injured or trapped in nearby buildings.
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.
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Scottish Sun
6 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Floor was slick with blood, screams echoed in tunnel, I felt every human emotion, says 7/7 survivor on 20th anniversary
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) ON the morning of July 7, 2005, journalist Peter Zimonjic and his wife Donna set off from their West London flat to catch a train into the city. It was a seemingly ordinary day, much like any other – but it would turn out to change Peter's life for ever. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 8 Peter Zimonjic says the 7/7 bombings have taught him to feel in his bones how our time on Earth is fleeting Credit: Photograph by Blair Gable 8 Commuter Alexander Chadwick took this picture of passengers being evacuated from the bombed Piccadilly Line train in a tunnel near Kings Cross station Credit: AP:Associated Press 8 A shot from a passenger's video on board a train next to the one targeted by bombers at Edgware Road Credit: Ferrari Press Agency For he was about to witness the worst terror incident since the 1988 Lockerbie disaster – and the first suicide bombings that the UK had ever seen. That morning, just before 9am, three al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists detonated devices on Tube trains in central London. An hour later, a fourth device was set off on a No30 bus near Euston station. The 7/7 bombings killed 52 people and injured over 770. Peter and Donna had caught a train at their local station in Hanwell, near Ealing. But when they had to change trains, Donna chose to take a different route from Peter's, as she was heavily pregnant and thought she would be unlikely to find a seat on the busy Circle Line. So Peter got on without her – and was caught up in one of the deadly explosions that has haunted him ever since. Tomorrow there will be a service of commemoration at St Paul's Cathedral for those who were killed or injured on the city's transport network. But for Peter, 52, it will be too heartbreaking to return. Here, he explains why. 7/7 survivor Dan Biddle and his rescuer Adrian interview MY wife, Donna, was eight months pregnant with our first child on the morning of July 7, 2005. She had slept poorly, which meant so did I. At Paddington I kissed her goodbye, watched her train disappear into the tunnel, and marched to the Circle Line. I stood in the crowded carriage as the train accelerated towards Edgware Road. Around the same time a bomber got on at that station. As his train passed mine in the tunnel, he detonated his bomb. There was a sudden loud smashing noise which reminded me of the metal on metal of one car hitting another in a high-speed accident. I thought two trains had clipped one another as they passed in the tunnel. The thought of it being a bomb was an alien one. When the emergency lighting returned in the carriage, smoke was beginning to sting our senses. 'Clothes shredded' A family nearby comforted their terrified children. A man to my left grasped at the sealed doors to escape. Panic spread. From the carriage behind, a person asked for help. When a man in front of me moved towards the calling voice, I followed. The coach on the parallel track lay in darkness, but through the sliding doors we could see a leg and an arm wiggling into our train. The limbs belonged to a man trying to force his way through a hopelessly narrow crack in the doors — his clothes shredded, his skin dripping with blood, his face frantic. 8 First responder Paul Dadge helps injured passenger Davinia Turrell at Edgware Road tube station Credit: AP:Associated Press 8 The bombed Edgware Road Circle Line train where six victims died Credit: Gavin Rodgers The man I'd followed into that carriage, who I would later learn was named Tim Coulson, worked with me in a vain attempt to release the door. We smashed the window and jumped across the track into the darkened carriage of the neighbouring train. I climbed through the window frame and slid on a floor that was slick with blood. Bodies, some moving, some frozen, lay strewn about the dim carriage. Screams echoed through the tunnel, all pleading for help. Some were close, some seemed very far away. All were filled with a deep terror. It was a sound I'd not heard before or since. Stepping back and looking down the carriage, I could see a man in a suit trying to revive a woman lying prone on the carriage floor, her clothes almost blown off, with chest compressions. The outcome of that effort had been decided long before he got there. My heart raced, my breathing shortened, my head swelled — I didn't know what to do next. I was experiencing every human emotion at once — I was overwhelmed, incapable, impaired. 8 I felt a hand on my leg, and when I looked down I saw a man lying on his back. He pointed below his waist where I could see he only had one leg. The stump that remained had been tied off with the remnants of a white collared shirt. I took off my suit jacket, folded it and put it under his head. I took off my shirt and ripped it into bandages, strengthening the tourniquet. For more than an hour I lurched through the carriage looking for people I could help, feeling that whatever I did was not enough. When we finally walked through the tunnel into daylight, I phoned Donna. I did not know if she was the victim of another bomb on another train. For 20 years I've lived my life trying to only think of the terror of that day on its anniversary Peter Zimonjic When I heard her voice I broke down for the first time. She had thought it was some kind of fault or disruption. When I told her it was a terror attack, she kicked into survival mode and helped me get home. I wrote an account of my experiences that ran in the Sunday papers immediately following the attacks. A man named Andrew Ferguson who recognised my description of him, of his efforts to help save people that day, reached out to me and we went for a pint. It was like meeting a lost brother. Help people connect For the Tube staff and the emergency service workers, the bombings happened at their place of business, alongside colleagues. But the passengers were all strangers, alien to one another. I set out to fix that and created to help people connect and fill in the blanks of the day. Many became the subject of my book: Into The Darkness: An Account Of 7/7, a retelling of the day we were trapped in the hellish scenes together. When I moved back to Canada two years later, Tim and his wife Judy came to stay with us and over the years we kept in touch. When I flew back for the tenth anniversary of the attack, they sat right behind us in St Paul's Cathedral. We embraced and smiled, so happy to see one another alive and well again. 8 Peter with his wife Donna and their kids Anja and Jakob Credit: supplied 8 Peter's friend Tim Coulson, who died last year Credit: Times Newspapers Ltd For 20 years I've lived my life trying to only think of the terror of that day on its anniversary. The grandest resistance to that horror and death, I have always felt, is to live and to find joy, to love my wife and daughter Anja, now 20, born two weeks after the bombs, and my son Jakob, now 18. As this anniversary approached, I decided not to come back to London to mark the occasion. I wanted to, but I couldn't. Earlier this year the world lost Tim. I wouldn't be able to sit in St Paul's and feel that empty space behind me. The July 7 bombings taught me life is fleeting — which is one thing to know and another to really feel in your bones. Marked by the horror of the day, I was fortunate not to have faced the terrible injuries some survivors have had to bear, or the unfathomable loss of loved ones that others still live without. Most fortunate was that I was able to walk out of that tunnel and into the arms of my wife, that I was able to witness the birth of my children, that I was able to grasp the sunlight and pull myself out of that tunnel to live and love and survive.
South Wales Argus
11 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
LGBT artists decry Supreme Court ruling at rainy London Pride parade
Writer Shon Faye and the lead actor in the BBC drama What It Feels Like For A Girl, Ellis Howard, also criticised the judgment. The Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan shouted 'happy pride' and thousands people started to walk through central London, led by a more than a dozen motorcyclists from LGBT groups. There were shouts for 'trans rights now' as the engines roared and rain started to fall on Saturday afternoon. American pop singer Chaka Khan is headlining the event that saw around 500 organisations file from Hyde Park Corner, through Piccadilly Circus, and on to Whitehall Place. Members of the public watch the the Pride in London 2025 parade (Alberto Pezzali/AP) Former Years And Years singer Alexander told the PA news agency: 'Trans people right now, they need our support and love more than ever, they're being villainised, demonised in the press, by a lot of the media, and trans people they're just like us… they're you, they're me. 'They deserve the same respect, the same rights, the same privileges, same opportunities, and that's why pride is so important this year.' The solo artist and Eurovision 2024 contestant added: 'There's been a real backlash against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies and that's been going on for years, and I think we're in a bit of a swing, that's going against where we were maybe five years ago. 'We've had the Supreme Court ruling and I feel like a lot of trans people are scared, rightfully scared, they don't understand… what their lives are going to look like.' In April the Supreme Court ruled the words 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex. Before the march began Shon Faye, author of Love in Exile and The Transgender Issue, said 'we've just seen an unprecedented attack on queer rights and trans rights across the world'. She told PA: 'For the trans community in particular here in the UK, we've seen an onslaught of misinformation, attacks in the media, and unfortunately the roll back of human rights in the courts. 'I think (pride) is more important than ever – I think a lot of trans people have been made to feel afraid in public space and pride this year is about taking back public space, and showing what we're not going to be silenced, and we're not going to be intimidated.' Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan, centre right, with his wife Saadiya Khan, centre left, attend the Pride in London 2025 parade (Alberto Pezzali/AP) Asked what she hoped would change, Faye said: 'I feel like it's not a one year change deal… movements move in generations, I think what we have to do now is accept the reality of the situation we're in and we have to work together with other groups, within the LGBT community and outside it, to really start forming strong coalitions in order to fight this stuff. 'I think where we're going in the UK, unfortunately this rightward turn is going to continue for some time. The people together are powerful.' She added: 'I think the reality is what some of these attacks are designed to do is exhaust us… we become very focused and frightened and then sometimes it's easier to retreat in and the reality is we need to do the opposite of that – we need to be willing to work with people who aren't necessarily like us'. Howard played Paris Lees in the BBC dramatisation of her memoir and, like Alexander and Faye, was supporting trans rights charity Not A Phase at the parade. He told PA that 'we're in an incredibly precarious political time' and said pride this year is 'more important than ever'. The actor added: 'I think it's so, so important that we show up as queers, as allies, and we celebrate. Joy is an act of resistance. 'I hope it shows queers of all ages that we stand with you, we are for you, and we love you'. A giant rainbow flag is displayed during the 2025 Pride Parade in London (Alberto Pezzali/AP) He added: 'The recent Supreme Court ruling concerns me, the lack of proper tangible support from our Government concerns me, the lack of funding to amazing organisations like Not A Phase really, really concerns me. 'But honestly, I look around, I see stuff like this, I see what grassroots activism can do, and the power that that can have'. Sir Sadiq said: 'It was an honour and a privilege to again walk at the front of London's world-famous Pride parade as huge crowds of Londoners and visitors joined together for an incredible show of love, unity and solidarity with our LGBTQI+ communities. 'The fantastic parade and celebrations across central London have shown once again that our capital is a beacon of inclusivity and diversity. 'This year's event was also a defiant reminder that we must keep fighting for equality and take a stand against those seeking to roll back hard-won rights. 'Together, we sent a powerful message to the world that in London you are free to be whoever you want to be and love whoever you want to love, as we continue to build a better, fairer London for everyone.' A YouGov poll released ahead of the event found 67% of people in the UK believe the country is inclusive to LGBTQ+ people, and 60% would not welcome a shift towards more negative attitudes. Simon Blake, chief executive of Stonewall, which commissioned the survey, said despite the findings 'we know many LGBTQ+ people do not feel this in their neighbourhoods and workplaces'. He added: 'In policy terms, the reality is different too. 'The UK has dropped sharply down the global leaderboard for LGBTQ+ rights.' This year the UK fell to its lowest-ever ranking for LGBTI human rights, an annual report found. This was because of the Supreme Court ruling and subsequent UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance, said the ILGA-Europe's Rainbow Map, which has run since 2009.
The Herald Scotland
11 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
LGBT artists decry Supreme Court ruling at rainy London Pride parade
The Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan shouted 'happy pride' and thousands people started to walk through central London, led by a more than a dozen motorcyclists from LGBT groups. There were shouts for 'trans rights now' as the engines roared and rain started to fall on Saturday afternoon. American pop singer Chaka Khan is headlining the event that saw around 500 organisations file from Hyde Park Corner, through Piccadilly Circus, and on to Whitehall Place. Members of the public watch the the Pride in London 2025 parade (Alberto Pezzali/AP) Former Years And Years singer Alexander told the PA news agency: 'Trans people right now, they need our support and love more than ever, they're being villainised, demonised in the press, by a lot of the media, and trans people they're just like us… they're you, they're me. 'They deserve the same respect, the same rights, the same privileges, same opportunities, and that's why pride is so important this year.' The solo artist and Eurovision 2024 contestant added: 'There's been a real backlash against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies and that's been going on for years, and I think we're in a bit of a swing, that's going against where we were maybe five years ago. 'We've had the Supreme Court ruling and I feel like a lot of trans people are scared, rightfully scared, they don't understand… what their lives are going to look like.' In April the Supreme Court ruled the words 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex. Before the march began Shon Faye, author of Love in Exile and The Transgender Issue, said 'we've just seen an unprecedented attack on queer rights and trans rights across the world'. She told PA: 'For the trans community in particular here in the UK, we've seen an onslaught of misinformation, attacks in the media, and unfortunately the roll back of human rights in the courts. 'I think (pride) is more important than ever – I think a lot of trans people have been made to feel afraid in public space and pride this year is about taking back public space, and showing what we're not going to be silenced, and we're not going to be intimidated.' Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan, centre right, with his wife Saadiya Khan, centre left, attend the Pride in London 2025 parade (Alberto Pezzali/AP) Asked what she hoped would change, Faye said: 'I feel like it's not a one year change deal… movements move in generations, I think what we have to do now is accept the reality of the situation we're in and we have to work together with other groups, within the LGBT community and outside it, to really start forming strong coalitions in order to fight this stuff. 'I think where we're going in the UK, unfortunately this rightward turn is going to continue for some time. The people together are powerful.' She added: 'I think the reality is what some of these attacks are designed to do is exhaust us… we become very focused and frightened and then sometimes it's easier to retreat in and the reality is we need to do the opposite of that – we need to be willing to work with people who aren't necessarily like us'. Howard played Paris Lees in the BBC dramatisation of her memoir and, like Alexander and Faye, was supporting trans rights charity Not A Phase at the parade. He told PA that 'we're in an incredibly precarious political time' and said pride this year is 'more important than ever'. The actor added: 'I think it's so, so important that we show up as queers, as allies, and we celebrate. Joy is an act of resistance. 'I hope it shows queers of all ages that we stand with you, we are for you, and we love you'. A giant rainbow flag is displayed during the 2025 Pride Parade in London (Alberto Pezzali/AP) He added: 'The recent Supreme Court ruling concerns me, the lack of proper tangible support from our Government concerns me, the lack of funding to amazing organisations like Not A Phase really, really concerns me. 'But honestly, I look around, I see stuff like this, I see what grassroots activism can do, and the power that that can have'. Sir Sadiq said: 'It was an honour and a privilege to again walk at the front of London's world-famous Pride parade as huge crowds of Londoners and visitors joined together for an incredible show of love, unity and solidarity with our LGBTQI+ communities. 'The fantastic parade and celebrations across central London have shown once again that our capital is a beacon of inclusivity and diversity. 'This year's event was also a defiant reminder that we must keep fighting for equality and take a stand against those seeking to roll back hard-won rights. 'Together, we sent a powerful message to the world that in London you are free to be whoever you want to be and love whoever you want to love, as we continue to build a better, fairer London for everyone.' A YouGov poll released ahead of the event found 67% of people in the UK believe the country is inclusive to LGBTQ+ people, and 60% would not welcome a shift towards more negative attitudes. Simon Blake, chief executive of Stonewall, which commissioned the survey, said despite the findings 'we know many LGBTQ+ people do not feel this in their neighbourhoods and workplaces'. He added: 'In policy terms, the reality is different too. 'The UK has dropped sharply down the global leaderboard for LGBTQ+ rights.' This year the UK fell to its lowest-ever ranking for LGBTI human rights, an annual report found. This was because of the Supreme Court ruling and subsequent UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance, said the ILGA-Europe's Rainbow Map, which has run since 2009.
