Mexico explosion: 20 killed after burst pipeline ignites
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, reports The Guardian.
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.
Lopez Obrador expressed his concern on Twitter, and said he wanted “the entire government” to help people at the scene.
His crackdown on theft has significant public backing, though his decision to turn off pipelines and use trucks instead caused significant disruptions to fuel supply in central Mexico and concern that the shortages could damage the economy.
Another pipeline burst into flames in the neighbouring state of Queretaro, but the Mexican army reported nobody was hurt. A charred vehicle at the scene of that fire also suggested fuel theft may have been involved.
It is not the first time such an accident has occurred. In December 2010, authorities blamed oil thieves for a pipeline explosion in a central Mexico near the capital that killed 28 people, including 13 children. That blast scorched homes, affecting 5,000 residents in an area six miles (10km) wide in San Martin Texmelucan.
Lopez Obrador launched his offensive against fuel theft after taking office on 1 December. Thieves drilled about 12,581 illegal taps in the first 10 months of 2018 and the country has deployed 3,200 marines to guard pipelines and refineries.
Fuel theft gangs have hit back, winning the loyalty of impoverished neighbourhoods with the promise of free gasoline and getting local residents to act as lookouts and confront military patrols.
