The number of people killed in a pipeline blast by suspected oil thieves in central Mexico has risen to 66, the governor of the state of Hidalgo said on Saturday.
Fayyad told a news conference with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that 76 people were also injured in the blast on Friday evening as people tried to refuel.
Dozens of bodies were burned in the charred field where the explosion took place in the municipality of Tallahulban while forensic experts examined and photographed the remains. Soldiers and other soldiers cordoned off the closed area.
Lopez Obrador has vowed to step up his government's campaign to end fuel theft, which has cost the country billions of dollars over the past few years. Television footage showed residents scrambling to fill holes in the pierced tube and victims of severe burns, raising questions about the administration of a case that made the Mexican president one of his priorities since taking office on December 1.
Lopez Obrador launched a fuel-theft campaign on Dec. 27 and ordered a temporary closure of pipelines to stop the thefts that cost the heavily indebted state oil company Pemex billions of dollars.
The accident is one of the worst incidents in recent history in a country where its oil and gas pipeline network has been hit by hundreds of vandalism.