Reuters
Smoke rises after an explosion in eastern Riyadh on Thursday.
By NBC News staff and wire reports
Updated at 4:48 a.m. ET: RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -?An industrial building in the Saudi capital was heavily damaged by a large explosion on Thursday, according to a witness and local reports.
Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera television stations reported 10 people were killed and a further 50 people were injured. A witness at the scene told Reuters he had seen 10 dead bodies.
Only one corner of the building, which was several stories high,?was left standing, Reuters reported. Nearby vehicles were on fire and more than 100 emergency personnel were sent to the scene.
More photos from the scene of the explosion in Riyadh
Saudi security and civil defense sources told Reuters the blast was caused when?a truck carrying flammable liquid crashed.
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A civil defense official at the scene, who declined to be named under briefing rules, said the vehicle had crashed into a concrete overpass.
"I was inside the building when the blast came. Then boom, the building collapsed. Furniture, chairs and cabinets blasted into the room I was in," said survivor Kushnoo Akhtara, a 55-year-old Pakistani worker, who was covered in dirt and bleeding from multiple cuts over his body. ?"My brother is still inside under the rubble. There are lots of people in there."?
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Several adjacent buildings were damaged and nearby vehicles, including a minibus on the overpass, were set on fire, witnesses said.?
Al Jazeera reported:
Abdullah al-Saery, a witness who arrived on the scene soon after the explosion, said the destruction was "everywhere", buildings, cars and a bridge were all destroyed.
"The number of those who lost their lives is definitely going to increase due to the huge explosion and the damage caused to buildings in the area," al-Saery told Al Jazeera.
The industrial building housed operations of Zahid Tractor, a distributor of heavy machinery.
Saudi Arabia has been a target for al-Qaida attacks in the past.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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