At least 200 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.

At least another 100 people were reported to have been injured in the explosion and subsequent blaze.

Such accidents are not uncommon in the region, and the death toll is often high because people try to collect spilled oil.

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."

'Excessive speed'

Congolese military sources and local Red Cross officials said the death toll could be more than 200 dead and more than 100 wounded.

Dozens of homes, many built from earth and straw, were engulfed in the night-time fire.

It was unclear whether the truck exploded when it crashed or whether the blaze was started later.

Marcellin Cisambo, governor of South Kivu province, where the accident took place, told Reuters: "Some people were killed trying to steal the fuel, but most of the deaths were of people who were indoors watching the (World Cup) match.

The United Nations mission in Congo was checking reports that some peacekeepers had been killed as they tried to prevent people from approaching the overturned tanker.

A police officer based in Bukavu said the accident had been caused by the lorry's "excessive speed".

The officer, who did not give his name, said that many of the villagers who surrounded the vehicle before it exploded were children.

The village is about 70km (40 miles) south of the town of Bukavu in South Kivu, close to the border with Burundi.

The village is home to many Congolese soldiers and their families.

News Feed from BBC News