ACCRA, Ghana (AP) – A tanker truck carrying gasoline overturned on a highway in Ghana and exploded while people were trying to take the leaking fuel on Wednesday, killing at least 21 and injuring about 80, police said.

The accident occurred on a highway between the towns of Tanoso and Techiman, regional police commander Seth Oteng said.

The area is about 180 miles (300 kilometers) west of the African nation’s capital, Accra.

Oteng told The Associated Press that people “were scooping the gas from the gutter with metal bowls, so we suspect a spark set it off. It happened more than 30 minutes after the accident.”

Oteng said the charred bodies of 21 victims burned beyond recognition were buried in a mass grave at the scene of the accident.

The injured were taken to area hospitals, he said.

The cause of the tanker’s accident was under investigation.

Ghana is a stable, relatively well administered democracy that has largely avoided ethnic clashes, and played a busy peacekeeping role. But its poverty is widespread.

AP-ES-11-26-08 1437EST