Two Killed in Italian Port Blast

An explosion at an industrial cistern in the Tuscan port of Livorno, one of Italy's biggest passenger and commercial harbours, killed two people on Wednesday, an official said.

The two men had been doing maintenance on the storage tank when the blast occurred, the port authority official said.

Photographs posted online showed a large metal cistern partially crumpled and leaning sideways. It had contained ethyl acetate, a combustible liquid, la Repubblica newspaper's web site said.

Commercial and passenger services in Livorno were not likely to be affected, the port authority official said.

Reporting by Silvio Ognibene, writing by Steve Scherer