At least 77 people have been injured, five of them seriously, after a gas cylinder exploded on Saturday in a restaurant in the Spanish town of Velez-Malaga on the southern coast, a spokesman for the Andalucia region's emergency unit said.

The spokesman said the explosion occurred at about 1700 GMT during a festival in the town, which is 40 km east of the popular tourist destination of Malaga, The Daily Telegraph reported on Sunday.

Video footage posted on social media showed people fleeing a fire inside a small restaurant called "La Bohemia" close to the centre of Velez-Malaga, with the street outside covered in debris.

Source: MENA