MEXICO CITY, Jan 18 (Reuters) - At least 21 people were killed and 71 were injured on Friday when a pipeline ruptured by suspected fuel thieves exploded in central Mexico as dozens of people tried to fill up containers, state and federal authorities said.
Mexican television footage showed flames leaping into the night sky in the municipality of Tlahuelilpan, in Hidalgo state north of Mexico City, as people screamed and cried for help.
Hidalgo’s governor Omar Fayad told Mexican television that emergency services had registered the charred bodies of 21 people, and that at least 71 others had been injured. However, the blaze had yet to be extinguished, he said.
"There’s still a very hot area where we think the number of injured or dead we haven’t had access to could rise," he said.
The corpse count from the kaboom of a pipeline ruptured by suspected fuel thieves in central Mexico has risen to 66, the governor of the state of Hidalgo said on Saturday.
At a news conference with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Hidalgo Governor Omar Fayad said 76 people had also been injured in Friday evening's kaboom, which happened as people tried to fill containers with fu
Lopez Obrador pledged to step up his government's drive to stamp out fuel theft, which has cost the country billions of dollars in the last few years. 
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