Tanzanian police said on Saturday that a fuel tanker explosion in the eastern town of Morogoro had killed at least 60 people.

"We have been saddened by reports of an accident involving a fuel truck in Morogoro, which caught fire and burnt several people," government spokesman Hassan Abbasi said on Twitter.

More than 60 people were also reported injured in the blast in the town, situated some 200 kilometers (120 miles) east of the main economic hub of Dar es Salaam.

Regional police chief Willbrod Mtafungwa told reporters that most of the dead were drivers of the taxis known as "boda-boda" and local residents flocking to the scene for fuel after the tanker crashed, the French press agency AFP reported.

"The Morogoro region has never experienced a disaster of such magnitude," Morogoro Governor Stephen Kebwe told reporters at the scene in the locality of Msamvu.

"We have mobilized all the doctors at the Morogoro regional hospital so the wounded can be treated," Kebwe said.

In May, more than 50 people died in Niger when a tanker exploded. Last month, a similar accident occurred in Nigeria, with around 50 killed.

law,tj/amp (AP, AFP, Reuters)

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