Mexico: Tlahuelilpan Pipeline Explosion

By Steve Bynum
In this image provided by the Secretary of National Defense, soldiers guard the area by an oil pipeline explosion in Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo state, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 18, 2019. A huge fire exploded at a pipeline leaking fuel in central Mexico on Friday, killing at least 21 people and badly burning 71 others as locals were collecting the spilling gasoline in buckets and garbage cans, officials said. Officials said the leak was caused by an illegal tap that fuel thieves had drilled into the pipeline in a small town in the state of Hidalgo, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) north of Mexico City.
In this image provided by the Secretary of National Defense, soldiers guard the area by an oil pipeline explosion in Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo state, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 18, 2019. A huge fire exploded at a pipeline leaking fuel in central Mexico on Friday, killing at least 21 people and badly burning 71 others as locals were collecting the spilling gasoline in buckets and garbage cans, officials said. Officials said the leak was caused by an illegal tap that fuel thieves had drilled into the pipeline in a small town in the state of Hidalgo, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) north of Mexico City. Secretary of National Defense / AP Photo
In this image provided by the Secretary of National Defense, soldiers guard the area by an oil pipeline explosion in Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo state, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 18, 2019. A huge fire exploded at a pipeline leaking fuel in central Mexico on Friday, killing at least 21 people and badly burning 71 others as locals were collecting the spilling gasoline in buckets and garbage cans, officials said. Officials said the leak was caused by an illegal tap that fuel thieves had drilled into the pipeline in a small town in the state of Hidalgo, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) north of Mexico City.
In this image provided by the Secretary of National Defense, soldiers guard the area by an oil pipeline explosion in Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo state, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 18, 2019. A huge fire exploded at a pipeline leaking fuel in central Mexico on Friday, killing at least 21 people and badly burning 71 others as locals were collecting the spilling gasoline in buckets and garbage cans, officials said. Officials said the leak was caused by an illegal tap that fuel thieves had drilled into the pipeline in a small town in the state of Hidalgo, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) north of Mexico City. Secretary of National Defense / AP Photo

Mexico: Tlahuelilpan Pipeline Explosion

By Steve Bynum
WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

The death toll from an oil pipeline explosion last Friday near the town of Tlahuelilpan, Mexico has reached 96, according to government figures. Video from before the explosion shows hundreds of residents collecting spilled fuel from what the gas company Pemex called “the manipulation of an illegal tap.” Dozens more people have been hospitalized. Back in December 2010, a similar tragedy from illegal tapping killed 28 people including 13 children in San Martín Texmelucan. To discuss last week’s events, and what many are calling in Mexico an “illegal tapping” epidemic is Laura Carlsen, director of the Americas Program for the Center for International Policy based in Mexico City. She hosts the online television program “Interviews from Mexico.”