Mexican Broadcaster has shown dramatic footage of the burning pipeline in the municipality of Tlahuelilpan near a refinery to the north of Mexico City.
According to local media reports, a ruptured pipeline exploded on Friday, killing at least 20 and injuring dozens of people who were trying to fill containers with fuel near the broken pipeline. The incident reportedly occurred hours after thieves drilled an illegal tap into the steel tube.
“The preliminary report I’ve been passed is very serious, they’re telling me 20 people have died, charred, and that 54 are injured, burned”, the governor of Hidalgo state, Omar Fayad told Mexican television on Friday as quoted by Reuters.
Later in the day, Omar Fayad said in a twitter post that at least 60 people were seriously hurt after the pipeline exploded.
Mexican Secretary for Public Safety Alfonso Durazo told local reporters on Friday that the National Emergency Committee had been formed in order to help the affected people.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has launched a crackdown on fuel theft. According to Reuters, the local authorities estimate that the country has lost more than $3 billion last year due to rampant gasoline theft.
Meanwhile, fuel shortages have been reported in at least 10 of Mexico’s 31 states over past several days, prompting authorities in a number of localities to take special measures. The shortages were reportedly caused by the government’s crackdown on huachicoleros, criminals who specialize in illegally tapping pipelines to steal fuel.
As part of the government’s measures, state-owned petroleum company Pemex closed several large oil pipelines. Now, fuel is reportedly delivered mostly by tank-cars instead of pipelines, which led to a decrease in supply.
In this regard, Lopez Obrador said that the security of all six major pipelines running through the territory of the country with a total length of 1,600 kilometers (994 miles), must be enhanced.
At Least 30 Injured in Fuel Tank Explosion in Southern Mexico
Accroding to AP, thieves drilled about 12,581 illegal taps in the first 10 months of 2018 and the country has deployed 3,200 servicemen to guard pipelines and local refineries.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
