At least 50 people were killed when a train derailed in a southeastern province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Thursday, a minister has said.

 The accident took place about 3 am local time (02:00 GMT) in the town of Mayibaridi in Tanganyika province, Steve Mbikayi, the minister of humanitarian affairs, said.

The death toll was provisional, Mbikayi said, adding that 23 people have been injured in the accident.

Rescue workers have been sent to the scene of the accident, the minister added.

Railways in the DRC have a poor record for safety, hampered by poor tracks and decrepit locomotives, many of them dating from the 1960s.

In March, at least 24 people were killed and 31 were injured when a freight train carrying illegal passengers crashed in the central region of Kasai.

In November last year, 10 stowaways were killed and 24 injured near the eastern town of Samba when the brakes failed on a freight train.

In November 2017, 35 people were killed when a freight train carrying 13 oil tankers plunged into a ravine in southern Lualaba province.

Aljazeera