Tanzania: 62 people died as a result of an explosion while they were trying to steal fuel in a tanker truck

At least 70 other people were injured in the early morning accident in the town of Morogoro, the KBC public channel quoted police figures as saying. Many were badly burned, regional police commissioner Steven Kabwe told local television channel Azam TV.

"We send our condolences to families, relatives and friends," government spokesman Hbadan Abbasim told Twitter.

Witnesses in Morogoro told the Associated Press that dozens of people had gathered around the vehicle, which had suffered an accident earlier in the day. When the blast occurred, people were trying to remove the fuel, they added. Morogoro is about 200 km from the economic center of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam.

Accidents involving people who die by stealing gasoline in damaged tankers are common in East Africa.

In 2013, a similar incident killed at least 29 people outside the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

Many locals are not aware of the danger of a broken tanker, said Henry Bantu, a road safety expert who heads the Safe Speed ​​Foundation, based in Tanzania. Local authorities need to do more to educate the population about this, he added.

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