Paris - At least one person has died and five were injured, three of them seriously, when a tanker-lorry exploded Thursday at a Total oil refinery near the northern French city of Dunkirk, Europe 1 radio reported.

The explosion of the lorry, for yet unknown reasons, sparked a violent fire in a garage of the refinery in which six workers were badly burned.

One of the victims, with burns over 90 per cent of his body, died soon afterwards. Another 14 people were treated for shock. dpa