By THE CITIZEN

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A Kenyan is among those killed in an accident at the Mtibwa sugar factory in Tanzania's eastern Morogoro region.

The incident occurred after an electrical fault in the heating system, officials from the Fire and Rescue Brigade (FRB) and local police have confirmed.

"We have confirmed that one Kenyan, one Indian and one Brazilian died in the incident which happened in the early hours of May 23 at 1:30 am," SACP Morogoro Regional Police Commander Alex Mkama told journalists in Morogoro.

He said all the bodies had been preserved in the mortuary at the factory's hospital.

SACP Mkama said the dead were all electrical and mechanical engineers who were in the control room making final adjustments before the start of the day's production shift.

"Two injured people have been admitted to Bwagala Mission Hospital in Turiani Ward," said SACP Mkama.

Earlier on Thursday, Morogoro Regional Fire and Rescue Commander Shaban Marugujo told Mwananchi newspaper that a team from the FRB was immediately dispatched to the scene of the accident to carry out rescue and evacuation exercises.

He said preliminary investigations indicated that an explosion occurred when the technical team was preparing machinery to start sugar production.

"We will release an official report once the investigation is complete," he said.