Seven people were injured in a fire late Monday in the western town of Muanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The fire quickly engulfed a vehicle belonging to the PERENCO- REP petroleum company, which is situated in Muanda between Bas- Fleuve and Bas-Congo in the western part of the DRC, the company reported.

The company staff present at the scene told Xinhua on telephone that the accident was caused by a welding fault. All the injured persons, some seriously, were evacuated and taken to a hospital in Muanda for medical treatment.

PERENCO is a French private company exploiting oil in the zone around Muanda. The company entered the DRC in 2000 when it took over the operations of TotalFinaElf. It has interests in several other African countries including the neighboring Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Eritrea, Gabon and Tunisia.

(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2009)