The number of people who died in a petrol pipeline explosion in central Mexico late last week has risen to 96, government officials say, from 91 reported a day earlier.
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The explosion last Friday occurred after hundreds of people crowded in to collect petrol gushing from a pipeline that had been ruptured by suspected fuel thieves near the town of Tlahuelilpan in the state of Hidalgo.
Hidalgo's government said in a statement that 96 people had been confirmed dead from the explosion, the worst to affect Mexico's troubled oil infrastructure in several years. Another 48 people were receiving treatment for their injuries, it added.
Central Mexico had been hard-hit by fuel shortages since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador launched a crackdown on fuel theft nearly a month ago, ordering pipelines closed in an effort to stamp out criminal activity.
Australian Associated Press