At least 60 dead in Tanzania fuel tanker explosion

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At least 60 people have died while 70 others have suffered injuries following a fuel tanker explosion in Tanzania.

The incident occurred on Saturday in Morogoro region, about 200 km west of the port city of Dar es Salaam.

Police said the tanker overturned on a major road and people rushed to siphon fuel. The tanker then exploded, killing at least 60 people, most of whom were residents and drivers of motorcycle taxis.

A video shared online appeared to show a large group of people carrying buckets and jerry cans towards the tanker, while images from the aftermath appear to show the area around the tanker littered with charred corpses and the burned-out wreckage of motorbikes.

Wilbrod Mutafungwa, the town’s police commissioner, told reporters that work was ongoing to reach a “conclusive” number of those killed.

“Unfortunately fire broke out and burned a lot of people, a lot of people have lost their lives in this incident,” he said.

A similar accident occurred in Nigeria last month where at least 45 people were killed when a crashed fuel tanker exploded.

 

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