27 people killed and many more injured in a pipe explosion in Mexico

A massive oil pipe explosion in the Mexican town of in San Martin has killed 27 people including 12 children and injured another 52, the explosion caused gushing crude oil to turn the streets of the town into flaming rivers which incinerated cars, houses and trees.

Many of the victims were burnt to death, some in their own homes and firefighters pulled charred bodies from the incinerated homes, some of the remains barely more than piles of ashes and bones. It’s thought the explosion happened after thieves had targeted the oil pipeline, trying to steal crude oil. Laura Gurza, chief of the federal Civil Protection emergency response agency, said: “Investigators found a hole in the pipeline and equipment for extracting crude. We think the thieves lost control because of the high pressure with which the fuel exits the pipeline,’ she said, adding that the oil began to flow down the city’s streets and into a nearby river.” Police found several bodies in cars near the location of the leak, however they didn’t know if the dead were involved in the theft or just there by coincidence.

There are currently more than 200 people staying in nearby temporary shelters, the blast a three-mile radius, leaving metal and pavement twisted from the intense heat and damaging many homes, almost 30 homes were completely destroyed. To make matters worse the rupture occurred in an elevated part of the city, which meant crude oil was sent running down a river bed for half a mile. At some point the oil was ignited by a spark but at the moment authorities do not know where the origin of the spark was. Although people are not meant to live so close to the pipelines, many do in simple cement homes, one eye witness 58 year old Jose Luis Chavez, who lives 10 blocks from the explosion, said: “Residents had been there for some time. “ He also said:”I heard at least two loud booms and saw flames leap more than 30 feet in the air. It was as if a bomb had exploded underground.”

President Felipe Calderon has arrived to talk to many of the displaced residents as well as survey the damage to the area and express condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones. He also stated that the federal government would give its full support in investigating who was responsible and bringing them to justice. However no one has yet been detained. Petroleos Mexicanos or Pemex which is the state owned oil company which runs the pipeline said aid in a statement that it had shut down the pipeline. Government authorities also said that they had got the fire under control with the remaining fires burning of the crude oil.

In the past Pemex has struggled with persistent theft from their pipelines with them losing as much as 10 per cent of its entire product, because criminals tap remote pipelines sometimes building pipelines of their own, to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars of oil each year.

Picture courtesy of Esparta

World News