Three firefighters have been killed and 11 other people were injured after a truck carrying 60 tonnes of liquefied natural gas and a car collided in the Mongolian capital, causing a series of explosions.

Images showed a massive fireball at the scene of the crash outside a shopping centre early on Wednesday, close to an apartment building and international school in Ulaanbaatar.

The 12-storey apartment building caught fire as a result, with firefighters working until early morning to extinguish the flames.

Mongolia’s emergency management office said three explosions occurred after the crash, the last of which killed the firefighters.

The authority expressed condolences to the firefighters’ families in a Facebook post.

Ten people were taken to a hospital to be treated for burns, and another person was being treated at a specialist poison centre.

Forty-three people were evacuated from the burning apartment building.

More than two dozen cars also caught fire in the explosions.