Rome, Nov 19 (IANS): A powerful explosion at a fireworks factory near Italy's southern city of Naples killed three people and left several others injured or missing.

Rescue teams were combing through the rubble late into the night to locate survivors or additional victims, Xinhua news agency reported.

Media reports said that the killed were twin brothers from Italy and an Albanian worker. The exact number of injured or missing individuals remained uncertain.

The factory is situated on the outskirts of Ercolano, near the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum, which, like Pompeii, was famously buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago.

Italy has been hit by several fireworks factory explosions in recent years.

In July, a fireworks factory owner in Sicily was critically injured in an explosion, while the deadliest incident occurred in 2019, also in Sicily, when five people were killed, including the owner's wife.