Milan explosion in the building in Piazzale Libia – Porta Romana: 8 injured

The explosion of the ground floor apartment, where a man with burns all over his body was extracted. There were two of us, we accompanied him. He was conscious, in shock, complaining of his injuries, says one of the condos that helped him out. The apartment had caught fire. The thirty-year-old, a Ukrainian national, with second and third degree burns, was transferred to the Niguarda hospital in red code. The man said he lives with two roommates, who are missing: in all likelihood they were not at home at the time of the explosion. The apartment next door, used as a dental office, was empty on Saturday morning.

Other tenants were slightly injured by breaking windows or falling in the rush to leave the building: a 15-year-old girl with an ankle trauma was taken to Fatebenefratelli, while a 38-year-old pregnant woman, in shock, was taken as a precaution to Mangiagalli hospital. Four other women, ages 46 to 76, and a 48-year-old man were also taken to the hospital in code green.

The roar was heard throughout the southern part of Milan. Most likely it’s methane gas, we’ll have to investigate where the leak originated. We cut off the gas in the entire building that was evacuated, reports Maurizio Pendini, director and deputy director of the Milan Fire Department command. The gas had probably saturated the ground-floor apartment. I saw the door of the building in the middle of the street, said a tenant. 8 cars, 9 motorcycles and an electric scooter parked on the street were also damaged.

Inside the building there were a series of internal wall collapses; the steel shutters were thrown dozens of meters away. In the elevator, all the doors on the third floor have exploded. However, no serious structural damage appears to have occurred. The firefighters, who carried out checks on the apartments on the upper floors, evacuated all the tenants of number 20 and, in part, also those of number 22 in piazzale Libia. After the checks, the building was declared unfit for use. I was driving when the explosion happened, the shock wave moved me one meter, says a witness. It was a loud explosion, the news was very serious, we feared the worst, ”Pendini explained. An apartment and the staircase, as well as all the windows up to the fifth floor of the building, were damaged. Assistance has already been arranged at the hotel for those who will not be able to return home tonight, explained Cristiano Cozzi, director of Civil Protection in Milan.

At 7.15 I was passing by in my truck and I heard the explosion, a very strong impact, the shutters blew out. I ran in and rescued a child, wrapped him in a wet blanket, and carried him outside. Then I turned off the gas, says Aly, of Egyptian origin, who works for a cleaning company in the area.When I saw the boy I went back to my truck, pulled a large blanket from the back, got it wet, wrapped myself in another and i came back. I took off the boy’s clothes, he was all burned. I wrapped the wounded man, went out to ask for help and together with another person we took him outside. After taking it out, I turned off the gas in the house that had been left open.