Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) An oil tanker explosion in Niger killed at least 55 people, some of whom were trying to collect spilled fuel after the vehicle overturned, authorities say.

The explosion happened late Sunday on the road leading to the airport in Niamey, the capital of the West African country.

Another 37 people were injured in the explosion, Interior Minister Mohamed Bazoum said in a Twitter post.

"It was just before midnight when I went out and I saw the truck overturned. People came from everywhere to take gas, then I saw fire on its side and everything burst into flames," a college student told Agence France-Presse.

Ce matin avec le #PM au lieu d'une tragédie au quartier Aéroport suite au renversement d'un camion citerne non loin d'une station service. Pendant que certains riverains tentaient de siphonner l'essence intervint l'explosion du camion.

1/2 pic.twitter.com/HV52KooRqy — Mohamed Bazoum (@mohamedbazoum) May 6, 2019

Bazoum visited the site of the accident with President Issoufou Mahamadou and posted in French on his Twitter account: "This morning with the #PM at the site of a tragedy at the Airport district following the overturning of a tanker truck not far from a gas station. While some residents were trying to siphon gasoline, the truck exploded."

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