At least 73 people were killed in central Mexico after a ruptured gasoline pipeline exploded Friday evening, the governor of the State of Hidalgo, Omar Fayad, said Saturday in a news conference in Mexico City.
At least 74 people were injured, with seven of those under the age of 18 and one was 12 years old, Fayad said. He said some of the minors will be transferred to Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston, Texas.
He noted a large number of people were around the pipeline, some of whom were wearing clothes made with synthetic fibers that could "generate electric reactions."
He said no arrests have been made and that witnesses will be interviewed Sunday.
The fire resulting from the pipeline explosion has been extinguished, Mexican Secretary of Public Security Alfonso Durazo said on Twitter, and rescue teams have begun to recover bodies.
Residents in the immediate vicinity of the pipeline, which runs from the cities of Tuxpan to Tula, have been evacuated, State oil company Pemex said.
Pemex said an investigation into the cause of the blast was underway. The company initially had said the explosion was caused by illegal taps in the pipeline. The governor of the State of Hidalgo, Omar Fayad, called on the community not to steal gasoline.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who visited Tlahuelilpan and met with officials at a command center, said pipelines will be monitored to avoid fuel theft.