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At least three people have been killed in an explosion on the Italian island of Ravanusa after several buildings collapsed.
At least three people have been killed on the Italian island of Sicily after an explosion destroyed several apartment buildings.
Authorities said on Sunday that two women had been rescued in the southern town of Ravanusa after the collapse of Saturday night.
Rescuers, dogs and a drone have been deployed to locate the missing, a civil protection unit in the Sicilian region has said.
Local authorities confirmed on their Facebook page that three people had been killed in the blast and that at least four buildings had been affected. It does not specify how many people are missing.
Authorities said the blast gas appeared to have been caused.
Television footage showed a mass of debris, wooden beams and a broken steel in a large gap in the center of Ravanusa, with adjacent buildings charred and damaged.
The “huge shock wave” of the blast was felt at 100 meters (330 feet), according to Salvatore Cocina, head of the Sicilian civil protection unit.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the blast.
“Gas has probably been found in a storage pit,” Giuseppe Merendino, head of the Agrigento provincial fire department, told Rainews24.
“This gas pocket then found an unexpected starter: a car, a lift, an appliance.”
Shortly after the blast, Ravanusa mayor Carmelo D’Angelo posted an appeal on Facebook to “everyone with shovels and bulldozers.”
“There has been a disaster,” he said.
About 50 people have been displaced as a result of the incident, D’Angelo told Rainews24.
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