Riyadh: The death toll from an explosion of a fuel tanker in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Thursday has risen to at least 22, Saudi state television said.
Al-Ekhbariya television also quoted a Saudi civil defence official as saying that 111 people were wounded in the incident, which was caused by a traffic accident along the route on which the fuel truck was travelling.
The explosion occurred when the truck exploded after it crashed into a concrete flyover in the capital.
An industrial building, several storeys high, was almost entirely destroyed by the blast while several nearby buildings were damaged, a witness told the Reuters news agency.
A security official told AFP news agency that a number of people perished in the explosion but did not give a toll.
“There are fatalities,” the official told AFP requesting anonymity.
The security official had said earlier that a traffic accident had occurred at a junction on Khurays Road, one of the city’s main arteries.
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