Thieves tampering with an oil transmission pipeline, are believed to have sparked a deadly blast in central Mexico that left at least 23 people dead before dawn on Sunday, officials said.
The event occurred just before 6 a.m. (7 a.m. EST) when oil leaking from a breached pipeline burst into a fireball that wrecked cars and flattened homes in San Martin Texmelucan, a small town in Puebla state 50 miles east of Mexico City.
"Several streets were flooded with fuel. With a spark, there was a river of fire," said Valentin Meneses, interior minister of the state of Puebla.
Photos and video from the blast scene show charred vehicles, burned-out homes and scorched ground around the outskirts of the town. A cloud of thick, black smoke was seen hovering over the accident site just after dawn.
