MATADI, DR Congo (AFP) — Several people were killed and others severely burned when a tanker truck blew up in a village in western Democratic Republic of Congo, a provincial chief said Thursday.

The blast occurred overnight in the village of Mbuba, about 120 kilometers west of the capital Kinshasa, Kongo Central provincial governor Guy Bandu tweeted.

More than 50 people were killed in a fuel-tanker blast in the same village in October 2018.

Mbuba lies on the busy RN1 highway linking Kinshasa to the ports of Matadi and Boma.

"It is high time to take bold and drastic measures to strengthen transport regulations, especially for flammable products, to end to this cycle of accidents," Bandu said.

"Highway One should not be a graveyard."