Twelve people have been killed and about 30 injured in a blast at a munitions dump in southern Cyprus.

The blast, at 0600 (0300 GMT), tore through the Evangelos Florakis naval base at Zygi, knocking out the island's largest power station nearby.

The munitions depot contained explosives seized in 2009 from a ship travelling from Iran to Syria.

There is no indication that the cause of the blast was deliberate, says the BBC's Tabitha Morgan in Nicosia

Two containers of explosive caught fire, a police spokesman told the semi-official CNA news agency.

There were 98 containers in the depot, seized from the ship, the Monchegorsk, which was intercepted travelling from Iran to Syria in January 2009.

Cyprus said the shipment violated UN sanctions on Iran.

The fire spread to the nearby Vassilikou power station, causing widespread electricity cuts. It is the largest power station on the island.

The fire has also had a knock-on effect on the BBC's broadcasts to the eastern Mediterranean. Six of the eight transmitters in the BBC's relay station at Zygi are without power, interrupting English-language broadcasts to the Middle East.