At least 20 people have been killed and 71 injured in central Mexico when a pipeline ruptured by suspected fuel thieves exploded as people were trying to fill up containers, the government of Hidalgo state said.
Mexican television footage showed flames leaping into the night sky on Friday in the municipality of Tlahuelilpan to the north of Mexico City as people shouted and cried for help.
“The preliminary report I’ve been passed is very serious, they’re telling me 20 people have died, charred,” Hidalgo state governor Omar Fayad told Mexican television.
Fayad appealed to people via Twitter to avoid taking fuel, saying they were putting their lives and those of their families at risk. “What happened today in Tlahuelilpan should not be repeated,” he said.
Mexico’s president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has launched a major crackdown on fuel theft, which the government says cost the country more than $3bn last year.
The ruptured pipeline was near the Tula refinery of state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), which in a statement blamed the incident on an illegal tap.
Separate television footage showed the pipeline gushing a fountain of fuel earlier in the day and people moving in with containers.