Mexico City: A massive fire that broke out in a fuel pipeline in Central Mexico on Friday night left at least 20 people dead and several injured. The pipeline apparently exploded hours after thieves drilled an illegal tap and locals approached to try to gather spilled fuel in buckets.

As per a Mexican official, 20 people have been killed and more than 60 badly burned due to the inferno caused in a pipeline leaking fuel in central Mexico.

Omar Fayad, the governor of Hidalgo, said on Twitter that 20 had died and more than 60 were injured. Mr. Fayad said that he had been told the site was an illegal tap, where people were siphoning gasoline.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Twitter that he had been informed of the explosion in Tlahuelilpan, a town about 80 miles north of Mexico City, and “called on the whole government to provide assistance to the people at the site.”

Video circulating on social media showed a huge fire spread across a field, with people silhouetted against the flames and dark smoke behind them, and pillar of fire rising into the night, the lights of emergency vehicles reflected in smoke.