Two people died and 15 others were injured Wednesday after a fuel tanker exploded at a gas station in central Italy, according to the country's firefighting service.

The incident happened at around 2.30 pm local time in the province of Rieti, Lazio region, when a fuel tanker resupplying a gas station exploded, provoking an enormous fireball. </s> Two people have died in a huge explosion at a gas station in Italy.

Among the victims was a firefighter, the fire brigade in the town of Fara in Sabina near Rome tweeted on Wednesday.

At least 17 people have been injured, according to news agency ANSA.

A tanker caught fire for unknown reasons. The force of the resulting explosion had catapulted a tanker and a vehicle from the fire brigade several meters, the newspaper La Repubblica reported.

The site of the explosion is located about 50 kilometres north-east of Rome in the province of Rieti.

"The situation is under control," Fara in Sabina Mayor Davide Basilicata wrote in the early evening on Facebook.

The site of the accident was still inaccessible and traffic was being redirected. </s> BOLOGNA, Italy - At least two people were killed and 70 injured in a tanker truck explosion near Bologna, Italy.

The explosion happened on a busy highway and caused part of the raised roadway to collapse, CBS News reported.

According to CBS, video showed the tanker rear-ending a vehicle on the highway and causing an explosion. It was then hit by another vehicle from behind.

An unspecified amount of time later, a much larger explosion occurred. </s> One person has died and more than 40 others injured after a tanker truck exploded in Bologna, Italy. The blast caused part of a motorway bridge to collapse, with several people wounded by debris and shattered glass, according to Italian media </s> A fire sparked while a tank truck was unloading gas at a petrol station located at the 39th kilometre on the busy Via Salaria, near Borgo Quinzio, in the province of Rieti, some 80 kilometres from Rome. In less than half an hour, at approximately 1pm GMT, the vehicle exploded, injurying passersby and members of the fire brigades who were trying to put down the blaze. One of the two victims was a 50-year-old fireman, Stefano Colasanti, who was not a member of the brigades called to assist but selflessly stopped to help his colleagues evacuate the area while he was passing through.

Upon confirming his death, the Italian fire service spoke of the "endless pain" they were suffering from the loss. The other casualty is a man who was hit by the blast after he stopped to check what was going on. The 17 injured, including some of the emergency responders, were taken to five different hospitals by helicopter to avoid the traffic that started piling up as soon as part of the SS4 Via Salaria, a stretch of the Italian state highway linking Rome to the Adriatic sea, was closed and cordoned by police. Davide Basilicata, mayor of the surrounding municipality of Fara in Sabina, said: "We are monitoring the situation, we have diverted the traffic and no one is allowed to go near the area of the blast.

"The situation is serious, firefighters keeps working at the scene. "The whole area has been declared a red zone and remains off limits for now." Among the injured, three are deemed seriusly harmed. And all of them have suffered blast shocks and burns.

Antonio Mannoni, police commissioner of Rieti, explained what happened to Italian news agency Ansa, saying: "I can confirm the outcome of the tragedy is heavy. "The blast sparked from a tanker which was unloading gas at the petrol station. "A first blaze had started earlier, and while firefighters were tackling it a second violent explosion took place. "At the moment firefighters are cooling down the tanker to make sure it will no longer be a threat."

Blood-chilling pictures show firefighters and police officers still working inside the cordoned area. The explosion was "like an earthquake", according to witnesses who spoke to local media. Residents living nearby described to Italian daily Repubblica the blast, saying: "An enormous roar, never heard something like that, it sounded like an earthquake." Italy's deputy prime ministers Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini both offered their condolensces to the relatives of those who died. </s> MILAN — Italian firefighters say 12 people have been killed and three injured after a van accident in a town in southern Italy.

The ANSA news agency reported that the victims were immigrant farm workers returning from work Monday. The van they were driving hit a truck carrying tomatoes head-on, causing the van to overturn near the town of Foggia.

The nationalities of the victims have not been released.

This was a separate traffic accident from the deadly tanker truck explosion that took place Monday in Bologna, northern Italy, that left at least two people dead and up to 70 injured. </s> MILAN — A tanker truck carrying a highly flammable gas exploded Monday after rear-ending a stopped truck on a crowded highway near the northern Italian city of Bologna. At least two people were killed, up to 70 injured and part of the raised expressway collapsed in the fireball.

Police said the accident and subsequent fire and explosion left some of the injured with severe burns. It also shut down a highway that is a key route between northern Italy and the Adriatic Coast and other points south, including Florence and Rome, the capital.

A police video showed the tanker failing to slow down quick enough and plowing into the rear of a truck stopped in traffic, with flames exploding on impact. Another truck appeared to hit the tanker from behind. After an unspecified time lapse, during which the highway was cleared of most other vehicles, the truck erupted in a second, enormous explosion that spanned eight lanes of the highway and beyond.

Flames shot up into the air, followed by a thick black cloud of smoke. Aerial photos showed a gaping hole left in the raised highway. TV images hours after the flames were doused showed the burned-out skeletons of hulking tractor trailers.

Italian prosecutors said the tanker was filled with liquefied petroleum gas, otherwise known as propane, used as a fuel in heaters, cooking equipment and vehicles.

Firefighters said the extreme heat of the flames caused the raised roadway to collapse, sending a heat explosion that incinerated dozens of automobiles on new car lots nearby.

In a separate vehicle accident in the southern Italian region of Puglia, 12 farm workers were killed Monday when the van they were traveling in collided with a truck and overturned, ANSA reported.

The accident was similar to one on Saturday, when a truck laden with tomatoes crashed into a van and four migrants died.

Colleen Barry is an Associated Press writer. </s> At least two people have been killed with up to 70 others injured after a truck transporting flammable substances exploded following a traffic accident.

The crash, which occurred on a motorway near Bologna in Italy, sent a fireball into the sky and left a bridge partially collapsed.

The incident happened on a stretch of road between Borgo Panigale and Casalecchio near Bologna Airport shortly before 2pm on Monday.

Some people were reportedly hit by flying glass as windows shattered in nearby buildings. </s> Livorno, March 28 - Two workers were killed and another was seriously injured in the explosion of a fuel tank at Livorno's industrial port on Wednesday. Sources said there may be more injured workers. The accident happened inside the Costiero Nero depot at the port, sources said. According to an initial reconstruction the workers were doing maintenance work and the tank had been emptied.
Two people died while 18 others are injured when a tank truck caught fire and exploded in the city of Rieti, Italy.