Dozens wounded in Mexico City gas truck blast

Nearly 60 people were wounded, 19 gravely, when a gas truck exploded in Mexico City on Wednesday causing widespread damage, municipal officials said.

The vehicle blew up as it crossed a bridge in the populous Iztapalapa district in the capital's east, leaving 19 people with second- and third-degree burns, civil protection official Myriam Urzua said. 

No fatalities have been reported.

Images distributed on television and social networks show the moment of the powerful explosion, which produced huge flares visible from a great distance. 

People can be seen with what appear to be serious burns, while others near the disaster zone fled the fast-spreading flames that were later brought under control by firefighters.

Several other vehicles were damaged in the explosion, the causes of which are not yet known.

© Agence France-Press