Russian fans injured as Rome metro escalator gives way

Image copyright EPA

An escalator has given way at a metro station in central Rome leaving more than 20 people injured, some of them seriously, Italian officials say.

Most of those injured were fans of the visiting Russian football team CSKA Moscow, reports say.

Footage on social media shows people being crushed at the bottom of the escalator as it runs out of control.

Emergency services were at the scene and the station was closed, Italian news agency Ansa reported.

Ansa said more than 20 people had been hurt, most of them suffering leg injuries. One of the fans had a foot partially severed in the crush, Italian newspaper Repubblica reported.

"A group of CSKA fans were going down into the station. At that moment the escalator collapsed," a police spokesman told Russian news agency RIA. Most of the injured were CSKA fans, the spokesman added.

The Russian embassy in Italy later said that up to 30 football fans were injured.

Witnesses quoted by police said the Russian fans had been singing and jumping before the escalator gave way.

The incident happened before CSKA Moscow's match with Roma in the group stages of the Champions League.

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