Pope Leo XIV Chases for wounded of the explosion in a gas station in Rome

Pope Leo XIV lamented the explosion recorded this morning in a gas station in Rome, which has left at least 21 people injured, some of them with serious burns.

Through his official social network X, the Holy Father expressed his closeness and secured his prayers by those affected:

“I pray for the people involved in the explosion of the gas station that occurred this morning in the Prenestino-Labicano neighborhood, in the heart of my diocese. I continue to continue with apprehension the evolution of this tragic accident,” he wrote. The Prenestino neighborhood is located in southeastern Rome, about 10.4 kilometers by car of the Plaza de San Pedro.

The detonation, which shook the neighborhood around 7:30 in the morning, caused a dense column of black smoke and caused alarm among the neighbors. It happened in a gas station located in Via dei Giordani, when the detachment of a tank truck that supplied the distribution system was produced.

Among the injured are nine police officers, a firefighter and a lifeguard, all reached by the flames while they intervened in the fire already declared in place.

The explosion also caused material damage to several nearby buildings and affected passersby who suffered minor injuries and broken crystals.

The Fire Department continues to work to ensure the area, while the health authorities have installed two medical positions for the care of the injured.

The president of the Villa de Sanctis Sports Center, located very close to the place of the explosion, expressed his relief for the schedule of the incident. “If it had happened an hour later, it would have been a massacre. There would have been 60 children from the summer center, 120 people in the pool … The damaged sports center looks like a battlefield,” said Fabio Balzani.