66 killed, dozens injured by blaze at illegal tap on Mexico fuel pipeline
- Victims were locals scrambling to fill buckets with leaking fuel at the time the fire broke out
A huge fire exploded at a pipeline leaking fuel in central Mexico on Friday, killing at least 66 people and badly burning 76 others as locals were collecting the spilling petrol in buckets and dustbins, officials said.
The leak was caused by an illegal tap that fuel thieves had drilled into the pipeline in a small town in the state of Hidalgo, about 85km (53 miles) north of Mexico City, according to state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex.
Video showed dozens of residents near the town of Tlahuelilpan gathered to collect spilled fuel in buckets, rubbish bins and other vessels. It appeared an almost festive atmosphere as whole families gathered in a field as a geyser of fuel spouted dozens of feet into the air from the tap.
Footage then showed flames shooting high into the air against a night sky and the pipeline ablaze. Screams could be heard.
Hidalgo Governor Omar Fayad said 66 people were killed and 76 suffered burns in the blast at the duct that carries fuel – apparently petrol – from the Gulf coast to Tula, a city just north of Mexico City.
“Caring for the wounded is our top priority,” Fayad said.
Pemex attributed the blaze to “the manipulation of an illegal tap”.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has declared an offensive against fuel theft and the blast will further focus attention on the US$3 billion per-year illegal industry.
“I greatly lament the grave situation Tlahuelilpan is suffering because of the explosion of the duct,” Lopez Obrador tweeted. He called on all branches of government to assist the victims.
Hidalgo state police said the leak was first reported at about 5:00pm local time.
“There was a report that residents were on the scene trying to obtain fuel,” according to a police report. Two hours later, the pipeline burst into flames.
Another pipeline burst into flames in the neighbouring state of Queretaro, but the Mexican army said 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 burned people and scorched homes, affecting 5,000 residents in an area 19km (six miles) wide in San Martin Texmelucan.
Lopez Obrador launched an offensive against fuel theft after taking office on December 1. 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.
The new administration has also shut down pipelines to detect and deter illegal taps, relying more on delivering fuel by trucks. But there are not enough trucks and long queues at service stations have plagued several states.
However, fuel theft gangs have been able to win the loyalty of neighbourhoods, using free fuel to get locals to act as lookouts and confront military patrols carrying out raids against the thefts.
“I am calling on the entire population not to be accomplices to fuel theft,” Fayad wrote. “What happened today in Tlahuelilpan must never happen again.”
