At least 111 people were killed and more than 200 injured after an overturned petrol tanker exploded in Kenya yesterday, police said today.

The tanker exploded in the town of Molo, about 105 miles from Nairobi, after crowds had gathered around it in an attempt to collect free fuel.

Nearby hospitals were filled with victims, including small children, who had suffered severe burns in the blast.

The Kenya Red Cross said most of the dead were women and children who had rushed to the scene as news spread that the tanker had overturned, and warned that the death toll was likely to rise.

"Most of the families will have a hard time [identifying relatives] because these bodies are charred beyond recognition," Patrick Nyongesa, the regional manager for the Red Cross, said.

Three police officers trying to control the crowd before the vehicle exploded were also reported to have been killed.

"Everybody was screaming … most of them were running with fire on their bodies, they were just running into the bush," Charles Kamau, a witness who had been driving through Molo at the time of the explosion, said.

"I just ran to where there was no fire."

Raila Odinga, the Kenyan prime minister, told a news conference it appeared that a cigarette had sparked the explosion.

He offered condolences to bereaved families and called for an education programme to prevent further tragedies.

"This is a terrible blow to the nation of Kenya," he said, adding that Kenyans should stay away from tankers after similar accidents.

Fuel blasts are common in Nigeria, where residents tap petrol pipelines to take fuel for cooking or resale on the black market. In 2006, a pipeline blast killed 200 people in Nigeria.