MAPUTO At least 73 people were killed and scores injured in Mozambique on Thursday as they tried to siphon fuel from an overturned truck which exploded, the government said.

The truck was transporting fuel to Malawi from the port city of Beira and was near the border when the accident occurred, the government said in a statement.

The injured had been taken to hospital and a government team was due to travel to the area in Tete province, some 2,000 km (1,242 miles) from the capital Maputo on Friday.

Mozambique is one of the world's poorest countries and struggles constantly with food shortages caused by drought.

(Reporting by Manuel Mucari; Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Louise Ireland)</s></s>JOHANNESBURG — A fuel tanker exploded in northern Mozambique as residents gathered around to buy fuel from the driver on Thursday, killing 73 people and injuring 110 others, Mozambican media reported.

Dozens of charred bodies were scattered around the blast site in the town of Caphiridzange in Tete province, and government officials believed more bodies might be in surrounding woods, Radio Mozambique reported. Some badly burned people had tried to run into a nearby river, the radio said.

A truck driver from neighboring Malawi had turned off the main road to sell fuel to local residents, who were gathered around the vehicle when the fuel caught fire, according to Radio Mozambique.

Medical teams rushed to the scene of the accident, evacuating the injured in ambulances and other vehicles. Searchers looked for more victims, though their efforts were hampered as night fell.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Citing Mozambican reports, the Portuguese news agency Lusa said one theory was that a fire near the tanker set off the blast, while another theory pointed to a lightning strike as residents were collecting the fuel.

A national government task force planned to travel to the accident site on Friday.</s>MAPUTO

At least 73 people were killed and scores more injured when an oil tank truck burst into flames in a village in western Mozambique on Thursday, the nation's public radio announced.

"The death toll of the incident is now 73," state-run Radio Mozambique announced, citing authorities in Tete.

"The incident occurred when citizens tried to take petrol from a truck" in the village of Caphiridzange in Tete province, near Malawi, the government said in a statement.

The government added that 110 people were injured, some of them critically. Children were among the wounded, it said.

The precise circumstances of the explosion remained unclear.

Authorities were trying to determine whether the oil tank truck was selling petrol when it exploded, or whether it had been ambushed by residents, information ministry director Joao Manasses told AFP.

A local journalist told AFP the truck had crashed on Wednesday and exploded on Thursday afternoon, as scores of people tried to siphon off fuel.

The government "deplores the loss of life... and is currently providing the necessary assistance in order to save lives and to comfort the victims' families," it said.

Three ministers were due to arrive at the scene on Friday in order to monitor the rescuers' work.

WIDESPREAD POVERTY, TURMOIL 

Mozambique is one of the world's poorest nations, according to the International Monetary Fund, and since its 16-year civil war ended in 1992 its population has suffered the consequences of a terrible economic crisis.

The government recently increased the price of fuel, after the value of the local currency - named metical - sunk against the dollar.

The southeast African nation is also undergoing a new political crisis, triggered by the former rebels' decision in 2013 to return to arms in order to push for a power-sharing deal with the government.

The current unrest has pitted the so-called RENAMO rebel force against government troops in the centre and the west of the country.

Among the provinces affected by the violence has been Tete, where Thursday's blast occurred, pushing thousands of people to flee across the border to neighbouring Malawi this year.

While many have returned, around 2,500 refugees from Mozambique still reside in Malawi, the UN refugee agency says.

Tete province was also hit by another tragedy in January 2015, when 75 people died from intoxication after drinking traditional beer.</s>“The incident occurred when citizens tried to take petrol from a truck”in a small village in Tete province," the statement said.

The precise circumstances of the explosion remained unclear.

At least 73 people were killed and 110 others injured on Friday when a truck carrying petrol blew up in western Mozambique, the government said in a statement.

“The incident occurred when citizens tried to take petrol from a truck”in a small village in Tete province," the statement said.

“Because of the heat, the truck burst into flames, leading to the deaths of 43 people and causing burns in 110 others, according to investigators’ initial findings,” it added.

The government added that 110 people were injured, some of them critically. Children were among the wounded, it said.

The precise circumstances of the explosion remained unclear.

Authorities were trying to determine whether the oil tank truck was selling petrol when it exploded, or whether it had been ambushed by residents, information ministry director Joao Manasses told AFP.

A local journalist told AFP the truck had crashed on Wednesday and exploded on Thursday afternoon, as scores of people tried to siphon off fuel.

The government "deplores the loss of life... and is currently providing the necessary assistance in order to save lives and to comfort the victims' families," it said.

Three ministers were due to arrive at the scene on Friday in order to monitor the rescuers' work.</s>JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Mozambique’s president on Friday pledged support for the families of dozens of people, including children, who were killed when a fuel tanker exploded in northern Mozambique.

President Filipe Nyusi said “tragedy has knocked on our door once again” in Tete province, where the accident happened Thursday. Nyusi was recalling a 2015 incident in Tete in which about 70 people died after drinking contaminated beer.

Radio Mozambique initially said 73 people died in the tanker explosion on Thursday, though the Portuguese news agency Lusa, citing government data, said on Friday that 56 had been confirmed killed and that another 108 were injured.

There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.

The justice ministry will head a commission to investigate the accident, Lusa reported. It said a government task force planned to head on Friday to the scene.

Aid efforts must be “flexible” following the tanker fire in the town of Caphiridzange, Nyusi said at a meeting in Maputo, the Mozambican capital.

The explosion happened after residents gathered around the tanker to get fuel, according to media reports. There were conflicting reports about how the accident happened — Mozambican media initially said the tanker driver was selling the fuel to residents, but another report indicated that residents were trying to get fuel out of the truck by themselves.
At least 73 people have been killed and hundreds injured in a fuel tanker explosion in the town of Caphiridzange in Mozambique's Tete Province.