Fear this morning for a big explosion in the center of Milan , between via Pier Lombardo and via Vasari, in the Porta Romana area.

The flames started from a van, parked on the street, carrying oxygen cylinders intended for a pharmacy on the ground floor which caught fire. The fire also involved a dozen vehicles and some apartments. A nursery school and a building were evacuated for safety: a total of 200 people.

Two were injured: the 53-year-old driver of the van who suffered burns to his hand and leg while trying to put out the fire . And an 89-year-old woman, hit by the shock wave of the explosion: rescued on the street with a head injury, her conditions are not serious.

"Fortunately, malicious causes and attacks have been excluded - said the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala -. The driver, who is burned and not in a life-threatening situation, told firefighters he saw a fire start in the engine compartment which then quickly took the oxygen tanks he was carrying nearby. He tried to do damage control but then there was the explosion. We cleared out the high school across the street. The dynamic seems, in its gravity, quite simple. The situation is under control ».

Ambulances on site, dozens of firefighters and law enforcement officers at work.

The Public Prosecutor's Office has opened a file at the moment against unknown persons for manslaughter . The prosecutor on duty Luca Gaglio ordered the seizure of the van, the cylinders and acquired the amateur videos and cameras of the area and the first depositions of two eyewitnesses and the driver of the van.

(Unioneonline/D)

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