ROME (AP) — A blaze, possibly sparked by a gas canister explosion, destroyed part of an historic bridge spanning the Tiber River in Rome before firefighters extinguished the flames early Sunday.
Firefighters said the fire erupted before midnight Saturday near the Ostiense neighborhood and by 4 a.m. Sunday they had completed their work.
No one was injured in the fire that involved the Industry Bridge, but three nightclubs near the riverside neighborhood popular with young people were evacuated as a precaution, Italian state TV said.
The blaze appeared to have started in an area of shacks occupied by homeless people on the river banks near Industry Bridge before spreading to the span itself. State radio said authorities believe the fire might have been started by an explosion of a cooking gas canister by one of the homeless people.
A section of the bridge’s outer pedestrian walkway and stretch under the roadbed carrying utility lines broke off and fell into the Tiber. State radio noted that another fire several years ago had also involved the shacks. Source
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