BANGKOK, Thailand -- A tractor-trailer truck carrying dynamite overturned on a highway, scattering explosives that blew up after curious villagers wandered onto the scene, killing and injuring dozens of people and setting 50 houses on fire, Radio Thailand reported Saturday.
Provincial Gov. Anan Chaengkeep told the official radio that rescue workers had collected about 40 bodies.
As many as 100 people, including three policemen, were believed to have been killed in the thunderous blast that occurred about an hour after the truck overturned, he said.
More than 100 other people were injured, Anan said. Police said the blaze also destroyed about 50 houses and several vehicles.
One of two trucks loaded with dynamite overturned while trying to negotiate a sharp curve Friday evening in the Thai Muang district of Phang-nga province, a tourist beach resort 490 miles south of Bangkok, the radio report said.
Anan told the radio that the two dynamite trucks were under a police escort and headed to a quarry in the central province of Saraburi.
Anan said the truck driver tried to collect the dynamite, but the accident attracted hundreds of nearby villagers, who crowded along the roadway.
Police officers were unable to stop the large crowd of villagers from moving close to the explosives, Anan said.
Police said an explosion rocked the area about an hour after the truck overturned. Police said they believed the dynamite was ignited by a cigarette thrown from someone in the crowd.