Nearly 40 people have been killed after a bus and a minibus collided in Tanzania, sparking a fire that engulfed both vehicles.

The crash occurred on Saturday evening in Sabasaba, in the Kilimanjaro region, after one of the bus’s tyres was punctured, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

“A total of 38 people died in the crash, including two women,” a statement by the presidency said on Sunday. “Due to the extent of the burns, 36 bodies remain unidentified.”

The nationalities of the victims were not immediately known.

Twenty-eight people were injured, six of whom were still in hospital for treatment, the presidency added.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan expressed “heartfelt condolences” to the bereaved families and wished a “quick recovery” to those injured.

She also called for stricter adherence to road safety as deadly vehicle crashes are frequent on Tanzania’s roads.

In recent years, the government has made repeated calls to curb road accidents, which continue to plague the country despite various road safety campaigns.

In a 2018 report by the World Health Organization, an estimated 13,000 to 19,000 people in the country were killed in traffic accidents in 2016, significantly higher than the government’s official toll of 3,256 people. (AFP)