At least 272 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 spread through the village before exploding. Scores more people are believed injured. 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 south of the town of Bukavu in South Kivu, close to the border with Burundi.

James Reynolds of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the toll "was likely to rise". More than 100 people were injured, he added.

The ICRC was due take medicine and body bags to the village, and preparing to fly the wounded to hospital by helicopter.

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, told reporters: "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.

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

The officer said that many of the villagers who surrounded the vehicle before it exploded were children.

The village, which is home to many Congolese soldiers and their families, was "in total mourning", the officer added.