Milan mayor says explosion caused by van carrying oxygen cylinders, rules out terror

A van carrying oxygen cylinders exploded in Milan on Thursday, setting alight several cars and lightly injuring the driver, officials said.

Television footage showed flames meters high on a residential street southeast of the Italian city’s cathedral, Duomo, with black smoke sweeping across the neighborhood.

“It’s a van carrying oxygen cylinders,” Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala tells reporters on the sidelines of the accident, ruling out any deliberate attack.

“At the moment I’m told there is one injured… who I believe is the driver,” he says, according to the AGI news agency.

A fire service spokesman at the scene confirmed the van had been carrying oxygen and that one person was injured, the driver.

He said the cause of the blast was being investigated.

Another fire service spokesman earlier told AFP the person injured was hurt in the arms and legs, and said all buildings in the immediate vicinity had been evacuated.