Sixty people died while 70 were seriously injured in Morogoro town, Tanzania, this morning when a fuel tanker burst into flames.
Reports indicated that the victims included motorcyclists who rushed to the scene in Msamvu to collect leaking fuel after the vehicle overturned.
Others were food vendors along Dar es Salaam-Morogoro highway.
Government spokesman Hassan Abbasi said at least 60 people died and 70 were injured in the blast, which occurred in Morogoro, a town around 200 kilometres west of the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
The government was helping coordinate the salvage operation “to ensure we bury the bodies… relatives identify the bodies of their loved ones, and those injured get proper treatment,” he added, in comments broadcast live by a state TV channel.
President John Magufuli was “shocked and saddened” by the accident, his office said in a statement.