Morogoro: A damaged tanker truck exploded in eastern Tanzania Saturday as people were trying to siphon fuel out of it, killing at least 62, in one of the worst incidents of its kind in the East African country.
Citing police figures, state broadcaster KBC said a further at least 70 people were injured in the incident early Saturday in the town of Morogoro. Regional police commissioner Steven Kabwe told the local Azam TV that many suffered serious burns.
The disaster took place near the town of Morogoro, with police saying the blast may have been sparked by a cigarette as people rushed to collect leaking fuel from the stricken truck.
"There was a huge blast which has so far killed at least 57 people," regional police chief Willbrod Mtafungwa told reporters.
Witnesses told AFP by telephone that they saw the charred remains of a number of motorcycle taxis and trees scorched by the power of the explosion.
Mtafungwa said the dead were mainly drivers of the taxis known as "boda-boda" and local residents flocking to the scene for the fuel after the tanker crashed.
Police later announced the blaze had been brought under control.
"The Morogoro region had never experienced a disaster of such magnitude," Morogoro governor Stephen Kebwe told reporters at the scene in the locality of Msamvu, about 200 kilometres (125
miles) west of Dar es Salaam.
He said the tanker truck overturned on the roadside and the "fuel began to flow freely".
"We have mobilised all the doctors at the Morogoro regional hospital so the wounded can be treated," he added, without giving the number of injured.
Such disasters are not uncommon in Africa.
Last month, at least 45 people were killed and more than 100 injured when a petrol tanker crashed and exploded as people gathered fuel.
In May, a similar incident occurred in Niger just a short distance from the airport in the capital Niamey, leaving almost 80 people dead.
Among the deadliest such disasters, 292 people lost their lives in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in July 2010, and in September 2015 at least 203 people perished in the town of
Maridi in South Sudan.
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