At least 220 people are feared dead after an oil tanker exploded and set fire to parts of a village in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The truck, travelling from Tanzania, overturned in the village of Sange near the country's eastern border.
The fuel oil spread through the village before exploding, AFP news agency said.
Scores more people are believed injured. The UN has corrected its earlier report that five peacekeepers had died and now says none were killed.
Accidents involving tankers which catch fire are not uncommon in the region, and the death toll is often high because people try to collect spilled fuel. Vincent Kabanga, spokesman for the South Kivu regional government, said: "A tanker truck coming from Tanzania overturned in the village of Sange.
"There was a crush [of people] and a petrol leak, there was an explosion of fuel oil which spread through the village."
The village is about 70km (40 miles) south of the town of Bukavu in South Kivu, close to the border with Burundi.
"Why are our children's lives seen as so cheap?" demanded Umm Raed al-Nuaizi, a widow whose...
A U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly has confirmed early intelligence assessments by...
This week, the mining sector made headlines after officials confirmed Iran’s lithium and antimony discoveries across...
