Naples, Italy— A gas explosion tore through a two-story residential building in the Ponticelli district east of Naples at 6:20 a.m. Tuesday, destroying two units and leaving three residents in intensive care.
Neighbors reported smelling gas for at least 20 minutes before the blast. A ground-floor tenant had called the gas emergency line at 5:55 a.m. Firefighters were en route when the building exploded. The force blew out walls, collapsed a staircase, and shattered windows across the street.
Three people were pulled from rubble within 30 minutes. A 67-year-old woman, her 45-year-old son, and a 32-year-old tenant from the adjacent unit suffered severe burns and blast injuries. All three were intubated and transferred to the Cardarelli Hospital burn unit.
"The building lifted, then fell. Dust was everywhere. We heard screaming from under concrete," said Antonio Esposito, who lives across the alley and helped pull a door off a trapped man.
Italgas technicians shut off supply to the block and checked neighboring connections. Initial readings show a leak in a flexible hose behind a kitchen stove in the ground-floor unit. The hose was reportedly past its replacement date.
"These rubber hoses have a five-year limit. Many families don’t know or don’t replace. A small leak in a closed kitchen can reach explosive concentration in minutes," a Naples fire brigade commander said at a press briefing.
Prosecutors opened an investigation into negligent explosion and failure to report a leak. The building, constructed in the 1970s, had no central gas detector. The municipality said it had passed a safety check two years ago.
About 15 residents were displaced. The city provided temporary lodging in a nearby gym. Structural engineers declared the remaining part of the building uninhabitable and ordered demolition of the damaged wing.
Gas explosions spike in southern Italy during autumn when heaters are turned back on. Consumer groups have pushed for mandatory steel hoses and detectors.
The gas company said it would audit all calls from the area overnight and release a technical report within 72 hours.
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