Italy explosion: Two dead after 'very serious' incident as rescuers scramble to find missing workers
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Two people have died, nine have been injured and four are still missing after an explosion ripped through an oil storage facility in Italy this morning.
Residents in Florence are said to have felt a "shockwave" after part of an oil depot burst into flames in the northwest of the city - with authorities confirming an "industrial incident" took place.
Images and videos filtering out of the Tuscan capital showed thick black plumes of smoke rising over the city, with locals told to close their windows and doors as a result.
Local media reports suggest the explosion happened at just after 10am at the depot, owned by Italian fuel giant Eni - which has released a statement confirming that emergency services were on hand to deal with the blaze.
Images and videos filtering out of the Tuscan capital showed thick black plumes of smoke rising over the city
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Eni said: "This morning, a fire broke out at the fuel depot in Calenzano, Florence... the fire brigade is working to extinguish the flames, which are confined to the loading shelter area and do not affect the tank farm in any way.
"Impacts and causes are being immediately investigated," the statement continued.
More witnesses told local media: "We heard a huge explosion... All the windows shattered and shelves fell to the ground.
"We ran out in terror to protect ourselves and understand what had happened. Some people thought a bomb had been dropped."
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Nearby hospitals have been forced to activate their 'massive influx plan' in the wake of the explosion
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One worker at a nearby courier firm said his van "rose two meters from the ground" - and can "barely hear" following the explosion.
Meanwhile, nearby hospitals have been forced to activate their "massive influx plan" ahead of a potentially large number of injured people.
"We are all very shaken because the news is arriving minute after minute, the situation is very serious, and we are really worried because the explosion is serious," MEP and former Florentine mayor Dario Nardella said.
"We all hope that the number of injured and dead does not increase... There is a state of maximum alert in the entire metropolitan area's hospitals."
'We are all very shaken because the news is arriving minute after minute,' former mayor of Florence Dario Nardella said
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"All of Tuscany is united in grief for the tragedy that happened today in Calenzano," regional president Eugenio Giani added on social media.
Regional Environment Protection Agency were on site to assess any potential environmental damage, including on waterways, Giani said.
While Calenzano mayor Giuseppe Carovani said: "At the moment we know of two dead and four missing - which could mean more dead.
"The conditions of some injured are worrying, especially two," Carovani warned.
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