Two explosions at a Romanian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) station killed two people and injured 56 others.

As a result of Saturday night’s first explosion near the capital Bucharest, 39 firefighters were injured.

A second blast sent a mushroom cloud billowing into the sky, shaking Crevedia’s forecourt.

Authorities said several people are in critical condition after suffering severe burns.

Raed Arafat, head of Romania’s emergency department, told reporters on Sunday that the two people who died were a couple.

There were four injured people, including two firefighters, who were sent to hospitals abroad.

There are two police officers and two gendarmes among the injured.

It is unclear what caused the blast. The Agence France-Presse news agency reported Arafat’s comments about the station no longer being in use and having no permit to operate.

At first, people within a 700-metre (half-mile) radius were evacuated from the area, with Mr Arafat warning that another explosion might occur.

It didn’t take long for the fires to be contained by midmorning.

Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis described the explosions as a “tragedy” and said he was “profoundly saddened” by what had happened.

“I urge the authorities to take urgent measures for the injured so that these tragedies won’t occur again,” he wrote on Facebook.