LAST UPDATE | 6 Aug 2018

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AT LEAST ONE person died and more than 60 others were injured this afternoon after a tanker truck exploded, creating a fireball on a motorway just outside the northern Italian city of Bologna.

The blast that engulfed the area with flames and black smoke and caused a bridge to partially collapse occurred near Borgo Paginale to the west of the city, close to Bologna airport, the Italian fire service said on Twitter.

A video released by the police shows the moment the tanker ploughs into the back of the lorry, immediately catching fire as another lorry crashes into the back of the blazing tanker and oncoming traffic screeches to a halt.

The three vehicles, invisible due to the smoke, were then reduced to little more than ash by a massive explosion that swept across the motorway and could be heard throughout the city.

Italian media has reported that many of the injured were hit by debris and shattered glass following the explosion.

Firefighters have since put out the blaze, a fire service spokesman told AFP, adding that efforts were under way to ascertain the cause of the explosion and the precise number of victims.

A video published on Twitter by the State police shows a massive crater in the road:

(Can’t see the video? Click here)

Images released earlier by the fire service showed burning cars in an adjacent carpark.

One video filmed by a motorist circulating on Twitter shows the moment the tanker exploded, when a black plume of smoke was suddenly swept away by a powerful ball of flame that takes over the entire horizon.

- © AFP, 2018