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Three police officers perished and more than a dozen people sustained injuries in a seemingly intentional gas explosion at a rural property in the northern part of Italy.

How It Happened

The blast took place as officers and emergency crews entered the property near Verona to enforce an removal notice for three siblings in their late 50s and mid-60s.

Each of the three deceased individuals served in the Italian military police.

Investigation Developments

Two individuals were arrested at the site and another man who fled after the incident was located soon after. The trio have been taken to medical facility.

The detonation could be audible some 5km (3 miles) away and footage from the area showed the building reduced to a pile of rubble.

“This moment calls for sorrow,” said the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi, who added that attempts had been made to remove the three siblings in the earlier times.

Property Situation

The leader of the Veneto area, Luca Zaia, explained the farmhouse was under an removal notice due to financial obligations incurred by the three owners.

Negotiators had been assigned to engage the siblings who had locked themselves into the property. When the police came shortly after 03:00 (01:00 GMT), officials suspect one of the siblings set off the detonation.

“As we went inside, we encountered a completely deranged action,” provincial police commander Claudio Papagno informed reporters.

“A gas cylinder had been activated, and the detonation precisely impacted our personnel,” he explained.

Petrol bombs were also discovered at the site, the Interior Minister stated.

Casualties and Damage

Injured individuals by the blast included eleven more officers of the police force as well as three members of national police and a emergency responder.

Based on information from the prosecuting attorney, the farmhouse was in a poor condition and had no electricity.

He was convinced the detonation had happened on a story above the access point and stated to reporters it was a “premeditated and voluntary homicide”. Just prior to the incident, he revealed officers had “detected a whistling noise, likely the gas canisters being activated”.

Community Reaction

“All of us understood the scenario was critical,” nearby inhabitants told reporters, noting that the three had previously threatened to “detonate the property” rather than leave the house.

“The incident exacted a ‘dreadful, extremely sad and dramatic price’.”

Defence Minister Minister Crosetto stood alongside other elected representatives in paying tribute to the three officers who had been killed in the line of duty.