At least 66 people are dead and over 70 more are hurt following a massive gasoline pipeline explosion Friday night in the townspeople of Tlahuelilpan , due north of Mexico City in the res publica of Hidalgo , with authorities put the blame on fuel thief .
According to theNew York Times , “ hundreds of residents ” were drawn to the grapevine after hearing that it was spewing gasoline , with authorities sound out that military personnel who get in at the conniption were insufficient in act to keep the bunch away :
Videos taken before the clap bear witness a raucous atmosphere , with villagers from the rural municipality of Tlahuelilpan , include kin , hack and express mirth as they fill plastic jugs , pails and canisters with the gasolene , which gushed from the break like a geyser .
In the footage , military personnel department who had festinate to the scene can be seen standing by and observing the concourse that had converged on the pipeline , which connects to the nearby Tula refinery operated by the government - run oil house Petróleos Mexicanos , fuck as Pemex .
Mexican Director for National Defense Luis Cresencio Sandoval enjoin newsperson that 25 soldier faced between 600 and 800 people at the web site , the Times wrote . Public Security Minister Alfonso Durazo severalize Televisa that “ At some point there were too many people there and the army and military personnel withdrew to avoid problems,”according to the BBC .
Ojo a este video donde pobladores de llevaban el combustible … antes de la explosión en#Tlahuelilpanpic.twitter.com / yvh0DHnJbP
— Salvador Zaragoza Andrade ( @SalvadorZA)January 19 , 2019
The word of mouth ignited two time of day after authorities learned of it , the Times pen , create a giant blast . Nightmarish picture uploaded to social medium internet site showed grudge of people running from the scene , some cover in burning gas , while others dwell injured on the ground . ( word of advice : The below TV contains graphic imagery . )
end toll in Mexico pipeline explosion arise to 66 , with dozens more injured
Latest : https://t.co / SqHyu21rqcpic.twitter.com / Da9Qpjja6N
— BBC News ( World ) ( @BBCWorld)January 19 , 2019
pic from the scene showed forensic investigator screen out through piles of corpses , in some case burned down to the bone .
agree to the BBC , Mexico ’s Department of State - owned Pemex oil caller said that the crusade of the original leak was illegal exploit , thoughCNN wrotePemex is still investigating the incident .
Hidalgo state regulator Omar Fayad send to Twitter press locals “ not to be complicit in fuel theft , ” say that it is a crime and that “ What happened today in Tlahuelilpan should not be repeated . ”
Hago un llamado a toda la población a no ser cómplices en el robo de combustible . Esto además de ser ilícito , pone en riesgo tu vida y la de las familias . Lo ocurrido hoy en Tlahuelilpan no debe repetirse .
— Omar Fayad ( @omarfayad)January 19 , 2019
In 2018 , there were more than 13,000 illegal pipeline pat in Mexico , many of them apparently much like the intrusion that led to Friday ’s explosion : man with tools and blunt instruments hacking into the country ’s vast fuel web , followed by occupant who arrive to amass the petrol in buckets . Much of the stolen fuel is finally sold on the disastrous grocery .
The scale of the thefts has been huge . Last yr , Mexico lost an norm of 60,000 gun barrel of fuel to theft per mean solar day , allot to Etellekt , a risk of exposure consulting firm that study the thefts .
Ruben Salazar , the film director of Etellekt , tell the Post that the incident “ show the total unfitness of our security personnel to prevent this sort of calamity and the inability of the governing to apply the law . ”
The tragedy on Friday evening will not sway authorities from the crackdown , the government said this weekend .
“ This unluckily demonstrates that we must terminate this recitation that conduct to the tragedy , ” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said , per the Post . Obrador added that some of the victims “ citizenry without choice who were push to carry out these activities with all the peril call for . ”
[ New York Times / Washington Post ]
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