More than 20 people, including nine police officers and a firefighter, were injured on Friday in a huge explosion at a petrol station in an eastern district of Rome, Italian authorities said. Website Roma Today published a photograph of a huge ball of flame and smoke rising high into the sky.

Several people were injured, including eight police officers and a firefighter, officials said. The cause of the blast was not immediately clear.

A gas station has exploded in southeastern Rome, injuring at least nine first responders who rushed to the scene