British tourist was seriously injured due to an explosion in a B&B in Rome
A British tourist is said to have been seriously injured in Rome after the B&B apartment he was staying in was destroyed in an explosion.
The man was rescued from a pile of debris after the two-storey building in the city’s Monteverde neighbourhood collapsed at around 9am on Sunday.
The 54-year-old was named in Italian media but has not been formally identified.
A Facebook page linked to the name suggested he had been in Rome sightseeing since mid-March.
The social media account’s owner said he arrived on March 17 and was staying in “beautiful accommodation”.
The man added: “This should be a good week ... if I don’t get killed in some ungodly way.”
‘It was like a terrifying bomb’
A witness told Rai television news: “I was stopped at the traffic lights at the intersection when I heard an explosion.
“It was like a bomb, a terrifying bomb.”
A woman, who only gave her name as Liliana and lives in the same street, said she was cleaning her apartment when she heard the explosion.
She added: “It seemed like a bomb. The windows shook.”
Another resident told reporters: “We were still in bed when we heard an insane bang.
“We quickly realised that it wasn’t a car crash or anything like that, but an explosion. There was smoke rising and shortly afterwards they closed the road and police [and] rescue workers began to arrive.”
Firefighters reported hearing desperate cries for help beneath the rubble in the aftermath and spent nearly an hour trying to free the man, who is said to be from Scotland.
He was rushed to Rome’s Sant’Eugenio Hospital with burns to 70 per cent of his body, authorities said.
Roberto Gualtieri, the mayor of Rome, visited the scene and said he was working with police and civil protection officials on an investigation into what happened.
He said: “Initial findings seem to indicate that it was a gas leak, perhaps from a cylinder that exploded, causing very significant damage.
“There is one injured person ... He is reportedly a guest of an accommodation facility, and investigations are underway into the B&B.”
Officials said no one else was injured.
Mr Gualtieri added that officials were considering evacuating other nearby buildings that may be at risk because of safety reasons.
Former resident was under police protection
Emergency engineers from Italgas, an energy firm company, are helping police with the investigation.
A spokesman for the firm said initial checks of the debris showed that the building’s gas meters were intact.
In a bizarre twist, it emerged that the Italian author Roberto Saviano, who lives under police protection after his popular book about the Naples Camorra mafia, until recently lived in the same property.
He issued a statement to clarify that he no longer lived there.
In a post on Instagram, Mr Saviano said he hoped there were no casualties.
He added: “How heartbreaking to see rubble in a place where I loved to live.”
Domestic gas explosions are not uncommon in Italy.
In September last year, four members of the same family, including two young children, died in a gas explosion in the south of the country.
Their home in Saviano, near Naples, partially collapsed in the blast, killing the children – as well as their mother and grandmother.
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