Villagers getting on a truck to move to a relocation site in Fangjiaqiao Village of Zouping, east China's Shandong Province on Monday. More than 30,000 residents in Zouping have been relocated as the water level of Xiaofu River rises due to rainfall caused by Typhoon Lekima. — XINHUA/VNA Photo

HÀ NỘI – Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on Thursday sent a message of sympathy to his Tanzanian counterpart Majaliwa Kassim Majaliwa over the fuel tanker explosion in Morogoro on August 10. 

At least 88 people were killed and at least 55 others injured in the incident, which was said to be one of the largest disasters of its kind in Tanzania.

Also on Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Phạm Bình Minh sent a message of condolence to State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi over the huge human and property losses in the eastern part of China caused by Typhoon Lekima.

Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that some 12.88 million people in nine provincial-level regions of China had been affected by Typhoon Lekima as of 4pm on Tuesday.

The typhoon, the ninth and strongest of the year, has left 48 dead and 21 missing in Zhejiang, Shandong and Anhui. Zhejiang was the worst hit as the typhoon made its first landing there, leaving 39 dead and nine missing.

About two million people in the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Anhui, Fujian, Hebei, Liaoning and Jilin as well as the city of Shanghai had been relocated, the ministry said.

Nearly 13,000 houses collapsed and some 119,000 were damaged, while 996,000 hectares of crops were affected by the typhoon. — VNS