A young man of Chiyanga village in Nakonde district accused of stealing a phone has been burnt to death in Tanzania.

According to family members, Ian Sinyinza aged 18, reportedly snatched a phone from a woman at Nakonde’s Black Market in Zambia on Tuesday afternoon.

He is said to have asked for mercy after giving back the phone but the woman kept screaming for help.

A mob later arrived and chased Ian into Tunduma where he was beaten before setting him ablaze.

He was burnt near a government hospital in the border district of Momba in Tanzania.

The family says he died in the early hours of Wednesday because of severe burns and injuries.

A similar report involving two young men has been heard in Iboya area, some few kilometers from where Ian was burnt.

The two men believed to be Tanzanians are accused of stealing mattresses.

Reports of killing suspected thieves are common at the border.