Authorities estimate that explosion and resulting spill in central Mexico affected three-mile radius
A pipeline exploded in central Mexico early yesterday as thieves were trying to steal oil, killing at least 27 people and sending rivers of flaming crude through city streets.
Authorities estimated that the explosion and resulting spill affected a three-mile radius, injuring at least 52 people and scorching more than 115 homes.
The first explosion, which was followed by four additional minor blasts, forced hundreds to flee the city of San Martin Texmelucan, 55 miles east of Mexico City.
Television images showed scorched houses, businesses and trees blackened by the huge explosion, and a black crude-like substance covering the streets.
The explosion, which happened before dawn on Sunday, was apparently provoked by thieves trying to steal crude oil, according to Valentin Meneses, interior secretary for the state of Puebla.
The state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, said it had shut down the pipeline. Government authorities said the fire was under control by midday, and fires are burning the remaining crude.
Civil protection authorities, firefighters and military officers are investigating and trying to ensure there are no more explosions. No one has been detained.
Pemex has struggled with chronic theft, losing as much as 10% of its product.
Criminals tap remote pipelines, sometimes building pipelines of their own, to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars worth of oil each year, Pemex has said.
In 2009, the US justice department said US refineries bought millions of dollars worth of oil stolen from Mexican government pipelines and smuggled it across the border in illegal operations led by Mexican drug cartels expanding their reach.
Two Texas oil company officials were sentenced to probation in September for their roles in the sale of petroleum products stolen from Mexico.
Pemex sued five companies in the US in June for allegedly buying stolen Mexican petroleum products.
Also in June, police arrested 13 people who had excavated a 500ft tunnel under Mexico City to steal fuel from oil company pipelines.
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