At least two people have died and dozens were injured after a truck exploded on a highway near an airport on the outskirts of the northern Italian city of Bologna.

Authorities said the truck had been transporting liquefied petroleum gas when it exploded, killing two people and injuring between 60 and 70 others, and confirmed that the vehicle was a tanker truck.

Italian police posted a video of the tanker erupting in flames after plowing into the back of another truck on the highway. The video also showed the damaged truck exploding after officials had cleared the area.

The fire service said the incident occurred around 2 p.m. local time (1200 UTC), but did not say what had caused the explosion. The highway bridge, part of one of Italy's most important North-South corridors, partially collapsed as a result of the explosion.

Services at Bologna's airport were running normally, airport officials said.

amp/rc (AP, dpa, AFP)

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