Fuel pipeline blaze in Mexico kills 21, injures dozens: officials

A massive fire broke out at the site of an illegal fuel tap in central Mexico on Friday, killing at least 21 people and injuring scores more as rescuers struggled to contain the blaze.

Omar Fayad, governor of Hidalgo state, said at least 71 others were injured after an explosion in Tlahuelilpan, about 105 kilometers north of Mexico City, adding that locals at the site of a leak were scrambling to steal some of the leaking fuel.

"I am deeply saddened by the grave situation suffered by Tlahuelilpan because of the explosion of a pipeline," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wrote on Twitter.

"I call on the whole government to assist people there." Scores of locals were collecting fuel in buckets and jerry cans from spouting leaks before the fire broke out and making off with the stolen gasoline, local media showed.

"What we know is that it was an illegal fuel theft site, and that authorities were aware of it" when it burned, Fayed added.

Hours later, and after sundown, the first ...