Dramatic fireball shoots high above German city in pipeline accident

A massive fireball exploding in a small Germany city has killed a worker and injured 10 people.

Police in the western industrial city of Ludwigshafen said the cause was still being sought but it is believed to be a gas explosion.

Eyewitnesses told newspaper The Local that flames shot 100m into the air.

Images from the scene showed flames shooting above buildings, as citizens fled through the city streets.

Gascade, a gas pipeline company, said workers were digging down to a buried gas-line near apartment blocks at the time.

An excavation worker was killed, and four other construction workers were among those injured.

Twenty-five buildings were damaged in the blast, which also gutted multiple parked cars.