Congo fire death toll rises to 235

The death toll in the fire that raged through a Congolese town when a fuel truck exploded rose to 235 on Sunday, officials said, after most of the victims were buried in mass graves.

The death toll in the fire that raged through a Congolese town when a fuel truck exploded rose to 235 on Sunday, officials said, after most of the victims were buried in mass graves.

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The governor of Sud-Kivu province, Marcellin Cishambo, said that three people badly burned by the fire had died overnight.

The majority of the dead, including around 60 children and around 30 women, were lowered into three mass graves late on Saturday in the town of Sange, where flames engulfed dozens of earth-and-straw homes after the tanker overturned and gushed fuel the day before.

The UN mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, said nearly 200 people were injured in the fire, with 32 suffering serious burns.