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CTV News
04-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
At least 20 people injured after gas station explodes in Rome
Smoke rises after a gas station exploded on the outskirts of Rome, Friday, July 4, 2025. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP) ROME — A gas station exploded early on Friday in southeastern Rome, injuring at least 20 people, including eight police officers and a firefighter, local authorities and rescuers said. The explosion was heard across the Italian capital shortly after 8 a.m., sending up a huge cloud of dark smoke and fire visible from several areas of the city. Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri said around 20 people suffered slight injuries. Gualtieri said local police and firefighters rushed to the area after they were alerted about a gas leak. Two explosions followed after they arrived, he added. Elisabetta Accardo, a spokesperson for the Roman police, said that eight police officers were injured after arriving for rescue operations. 'There were a few chain explosions after the first one,' Accardo told Italian state broadcaster RAI. 'All the policemen injured suffered burns, but they are not in danger of life.' Fire department spokesperson Luca Cari said one firefighter was also injured in the explosion, but 'not seriously.' Ten teams were at work on the site, he added. Police said they were checking the whole surrounding area for people who were injured or trapped in nearby buildings. Rome prosecutors have started a probe into what caused the explosion. A sports center located near the gas station was evacuated swiftly by police following the first explosion, with several children brought to safety. Residents interviewed by local media said the explosion was so loud and violent that it struck nearby buildings 'like an earthquake.' 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 she was closely following the developments. Giada Zampano, The Associated Press
New York Times
04-07-2025
- New York Times
Explosion at Gas Station Rattles Rome, Booming Across the City
An explosion rocked a gas station in Rome on Friday, leaving several people injured, 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 had already been called to the gas station after an earlier incident involving a truck, and they were on the scene when the explosion took place, said Luca Cari, spokesman for the Italian fire service. The cause of the explosion was as yet unknown, Mr. Cari said, and he had no further information about the incident involving the truck. '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 for cars confiscated by the judicial authorities, he added. The explosion did not affect buildings near the gas station, he noted, but residents have been asked to remain inside their homes.
New York Times
17-04-2025
- New York Times
Cable Car Falls and Breaks Apart in Italy, Killing at Least 4 People
At least four people were killed on Thursday afternoon after a cable car plunged to earth, rolled down a mountainside and broke apart on Monte Faito, south of Naples, Italian officials said. A fifth person was in critical condition, according to Luca Cari, a national spokesman for Italy's firefighters. 'These are very ugly situations,' he said in a phone interview. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. The nationalities and identifications of four of the victims, described by officials as tourists, were not immediately released. One victim was an employee of EAV, the public transportation company that manages the cable car, officials said. Nine people became trapped on another cable car that had stalled lower in the valley, near the town of Castellammare di Stabia, because of the crash, Mr. Cari said. They were rescued by firefighters who managed to bring them to the ground one by one using harnesses. Prosecutors in the nearby town of Torre Annunziata, which has judicial oversight over Castellammare di Stabia, have opened an investigation into the crash. More than 50 firefighters were involved in the rescue operations. Some worked to remove a piece of cable that had fallen on a local railway and onto the roof of a house, according to statement by the firefighters. Bad weather conditions — high winds and fog — made rescue operations difficult 'even on foot,' Vincenzo De Luca, the governor of the Campania Region, which contains Monte Faito, told the national broadcaster, RAI. Mr. De Luca said the cable car was important to the local tourism industry. It travels from Castellammare di Stabia, population 66,000, to a plateau rising more than 3,600 feet and offering breathtaking views of the Gulf of Naples and Mount Vesuvius. In 2021, 14 people were killed when a cable car crashed near the top of a mountain in the northwestern region of Piedmont, Italy. The cause was determined to be a snapped cable and an emergency brake failure. It was Italy's deadliest cable car disaster since 1998, when a U.S. military jet severed the cable of a ski lift in the Dolomites, killing 20 people. Umberto De Gregorio, chairman of EAV, described the crash was an 'unimaginable and unpredictable tragedy.' Speaking to RAI, he said that the cable car had begun operating for 10 days before the crash, with the start of the tourist season after a winter hiatus.
