NIAMEY (AFP) - Fifty-five people died when a tanker truck exploded near the international airport of Niger's capital Niamey overnight, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Monday (May 6).

"The toll from the explosion is 55 dead and 36 injured," the official told AFP.

"The victims were burnt."

Witnesses said people were trying to collect petrol leaking from the truck, which had overturned on railway tracks, when the explosion happened.