ROME: A blaze, possibly sparked by a gas canister explosion, destroyed part of a historic bridge spanning the Tiber River in Rome before firefighters extinguished the flames early on Sunday.

Firefighters said the fire erupted before midnight on Saturday near the Ostiense neighbourhood and by 4am on Sunday they had completed their work.

No one was injured in the fire that involved the Industry Bridge, but three nightclubs near the riverside neighbourhood popular with young people were evacuated as a precaution, Italian state TV said.

The blaze appeared to have started in an area of shacks occupied by homeless people on the river banks near Industry Bridge before spreading to the span itself. State radio said authorities believe the fire might have been started by an explosion of a cooking gas canister by one of the homeless people.

A section of the bridges outer pedestrian walkway and stretch under the roadbed carrying utility lines broke off and fell into the Tiber. State radio noted that another fire several years ago had also involved the shacks.

Firefighters said in a tweet that the bridge is currently too dangerous to be used. They also banned any navigation under it until the span can be repaired.

Pope Pius IX attended the 1863 inauguration of the bridge, one of the last major construction works in Rome in the waning years of the papal state controlling the city,

which would soon become the capital of unified Italy.

Dubbed by Romans the Iron Bridge, the span originally served as a railway bridge. Later it was outfitted to instead serve cars and foot traffic.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2021