Shocking Explosion: Enormous Gas Tanker Erupts in Fireball on Crowded Road

THIS is the shocking moment a huge fireball was blasted into the sky after a gas tanker exploded on a highway in Italy.

Footage shows the tanker in flames before the explosive blast shoots overhead, leaving a trail of smoke below.

The huge gas tanker exploded sending a massive fireball blasting into the skyCredit: NANOTV/X Dozens of motorists were travelling home for Christmas on the highwayCredit: NANOTV/X Footage shows the tanker in flames before the explosive blast shoots overheadCredit: NANOTV/X

Dozens of motorists were travelling home for Christmas when they witnessed the horrifying incident.

Debris from the exploded vehicle was left scattered across the A1 highway, heading towards Naples, as well as in nearby fields, Il Mattino reports.

Fortunately, three off-duty firefighters evacuated the area before the

The heroic fire men were travelling back from Palermo when they saw the tanker on fire and alerted colleagues at the Caserta command.

No injuries have been reported from the scene.

“I was working when I saw fire from the window,” an employee of the Teano Ovest station told local media.

They added: “I didn’t even have time to understand what was happening when firefighters and police came in and told us to leave, to gather at a safe point.”

Minutes later, the explosion destroyed the two buildings.

The highway was closed to traffic in both directions, from Caianello to Capua, for hours with a ten-kilometre traffic jam trailing along the southbound lane.

Traffic was eventually cleared after a lane was created within a service station to allow a detour for blocked vehicles.

The explosion occurred at around 5pm yesterday when two vehicles, a gas tanker and a truck carrying cars, collided on the access ramp to a service station.

Cops launched a probe into the incident, with investigators carrying out inquiries throughout the evening.

The two drivers, still in shock from the terrifying crash, were interviewed.

Their accounts will now be compared and technical examination will inspect the safety conditions of the vehicles.

According to the highway patrol, the blast damaged two service stations, nearby vehicles as well as some surrounding homes.

A video of the blaze attracted attention online with viewers likening the scene to a .

One online user posted: “This is deadly. I hope the scene was evacuated on time before it exploded.”

Another wrote: “For an explosion like this often there is an initial fire outside the tanker that escalates into a BLEVE or boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion which ruptures the tanker.”