20 people dead, 54 others badly burned, no clear numbers on victims
Posted on 01/18/2019 9:02:30 PM PST by BenLurkin
The leak was caused by fuel thieves illegally tapping the pipeline in a small town in the state of Hidalgo, about 62 miles north of Mexico City, according to state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex.
Video footage showed dozens of residents near the town of Tlahuelilpan gathered to collect spilled fuel in buckets, garbage cans and other vessels. Fuel was seen spouting dozens of feet into the air from the tap. Footage then showed flames shooting high into the air against a night sky and the pipeline ablaze.
Hidalgo Gov. Omar Fayad said 20 people were killed immediately and 60 suffered burns in the blast at the duct that carries fuel —apparently gasoline — from the Gulf coast to the Mexico City area.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
20 people dead, 54 others badly burned, no clear numbers on victims
Think it said somewhere that the theft was first reported two hours before the explosion. The authorities don’t seem to have showed up until afterwards.
Pipeline was drilled by thieves and around 300 locals approached to gather the spilled fuel.........they’re lucky the deaths weren’t higher..............why people would stand on top of a line spewing raw gas is beside me, don’t these people think?
With absolutely no common sense of the danger! Thieves never do!
Well..it is mexico and the authorites...well consider.
Thanks. You are smarter than I am. I searched fire hidalgo. Makes sense. Thanks.
First thing that came to mind:
“Come on baby light my fire”
Second:
“Stop, drop and roll.”
Really hard to believe that anyone would be that dumb. Even harder to believe the hundreds of people doing it. I’m guessing some “mob mentality” going on. “It’s okay mom - it’s been leaking all day, everybody is getting free gas, it’ll be fine!” (Even harder to believe that it appears that it had been gushing like that for a long time before exploding).
There was a gasoline pipeline that leaked in Washington state around 2000. Was an actual Y2K related issue. New valves and software installed, kept giving false alarms that it was closed. They ignored an alarm, sent fuel, and it was closed! Combined with a dent and repair nearby from a construction digging accident. Sent fuel into a creek running through a park. On the downstream side of the park was a busy town with all sorts of people and ignition sources.
Sadly - a little boy had found a lighter and was goofing around in the park near the creek lighting leaves on fire. Although if not for the gas exploding in the park the death toll could have been huge. The little boy saved a lot of lives. A fisherman was overcome by the fumes and died as well.
I could be wrong, but I can’t imagine that this fountain of gasoline was the thieves plan for stealing gasoline.
A semi-intelligent thief plans to get the booty and get away with his life
If you plan for an uncontrolled spilling of gasoline your chances of getting enough gasoline to make it worth your while and walk away unscathed are slim.
My guess is that something went wrong with their execution of the plan.
As a human watching other humans, it is really sad to see those still walking but so badly burned. I’m guessing that the care available in Mexico is years behind the USA. I was reading that in the past, 50% burns were pretty much fatal. Today in the USA one can sometimes survive 90%!! Of course what sort of life that is, I don’t know.
Another study I just saw said that 30% burns or more, half resulted in death, and they all had issues 5 years later. All the way from mental issues such as anxiety to severe health problems.
Just as in terrorist attacks, while the number of dead is terrible, the horrific damage to the injured makes me wonder if it was me - would I be better off just dying in the event?
I can surely have compassion for people but it’s pretty dang hard for the absolute stupidity and thievery these folks brought on themselves. They were all going for the ‘free gas’ that literally blew up in their faces.......their degree of ignorance is profound!
Exactly. Thieves are not too smart. Exactly the wrong people we want in this country. The next you will find them stuck in someones chimney.
This is Mexico. This is what Mexicans do. They steal. They steal whatever they can get their hands on. I hate them.
KAY BOOM!!!!!
“They were all going for the ‘free gas’ that literally blew up in their faces.”
A metaphor perhaps of them going to America for the free stuff - which will blow up in all of our faces.
If the burns don’t kill you, you wish you were dead. There aren’t too many good ways to go, and that’s probably one of the worst. Painkillers won’t touch it. Good Lord that was stupid.
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