(CNN) -- At least 230 people were killed and 190 injured when an oil tanker flipped over and exploded in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a government spokesman said Saturday.
Five of the dead were United Nations peacekeepers, said Mende Omalanga, the country's minister of communications.
The tanker flipped over Friday afternoon, said Mende Omalanga, the country's minister of communications. It was attempting to overtake a bus in Sange, in South Kivu province, on the country's eastern border,
When oil began to spill from the overturned tanker, local residents attempted to collect the oil. One was smoking a cigarette, causing the tanker to explode, Omalanga said.
The largest group of victims had been sitting in a bar near the accident site watching the World Cup match between the Netherlands and Brazil, he said.
The U.N. mission in the country said the fire from the explosion continued to burn until Saturday morning.
Some of the injured were being treated locally in surrounding villages, but most were sent to the nearby town of Uvira, Omalanga said.
The tanker is owned by a company called GINKI, and the driver managed to escape the fire, the U.N. mission said.
