Massive explosion kills at least 2, rips huge hole in highway outside Bologna, Italy

Italian police said at least two people were killed and 67 injured in a massive explosion that ripped a huge hole in a highway near an airport in northern Italy.

Video and photos from witnesses showed a massive fireball shooting into the air on a highway in the suburbs of Bologna on Tuesday afternoon.

Police in Bologna said a vehicle accident caused a fire that led to the explosion, and Italian firefighters said a tanker carrying inflammable material was involved.

Traffic was blocked in the area, and videos and photos from the scene showed burned-out vehicles and a partially-collapsed roadway.

"My car is still under the flyover, I am waiting to see if and when I can get it back," Marco Rosadini, from Arezzo, Italy, told Italian news agency ANSA. He said he was at a restaurant in the area. "At one point, we heard a violent explosion. I thought it was an attack."

He said that there were seven to eight minutes of what sounded like explosions causing the glass roof of the restaurant to collapse.