TLAHUELILPAN, Mexico _ Mexico's president said Saturday that he would intensify efforts to stop fuel theft as the death toll in a pipeline fire in central Mexico rose to at least 67.
The pipeline exploded Friday night as it was being illegally tapped by thieves near the town of Tlahuelilpan, 75 miles north of Mexico City.
The blast came during President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's campaign to eliminate rampant fuel theft. He has ordered thousands of troops and police to guard pipelines in recent weeks. The president has accused fuel thieves _ known as huachicoleros _ of sabotaging fuel lines to thwart the government crackdown.
Video of Friday's explosion showed people engulfed in flames screaming as they ran from the fire, and badly burned victims whose clothes had been seared off by flames. Officials said that at least in addition to the deaths, 75 people had been injured.
At the charred explosion site Saturday, people searched for signs of the victims, sorting through clothing, shoes and other items that those fleeing the blast had torn off in a desperate bid to escape the fire. As helicopters hovered overhead, onlookers directed police to charred human remains poking from the green fields.
A profound sense of shock and mourning was evident at the scene.
"I came here in the night looking for my son, walking thru charred bodies lying on the ground," said Martin Francisco Trejo Hernandez, 55. "Some people were still alive, screaming in pain, screaming for help. I never imagined I would see such a sight."
His son, Martin Alfredo Trejo, 34, father of a 6-year-old daughter, had yet to be found as the family continued its search.
Some said authorities buried bodies at the site with heavy equipment in the darkness. Police and troops called on residents to cooperate and move away from the charred pipeline.
Townspeople who descended on the explosion scene acknowledged that the siphoning of gasoline from pipelines was common.
"In these towns, we all have a relative or friend who is dedicated to this," said Jesus Cesar Vera Velazquez, 43, referring to fuel theft. "But they do it out of necessity, because of hunger. There's no work here and people earn very little farming."
"Here, even the mayor protects huachicol (black market gasoline)," said Ruben Cruz, 51, a farmer who was among those who went to the site of the blast. "Authorities here receive money from huachicol. It pays very well and it's an opportunity to have some money, enjoy a better life."
Before the explosion, as many as 800 people had converged on the site to gather gasoline, which gushed from the ruptured pipeline more than 20 feet into the air, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, Mexico's defense secretary, said Saturday. Scenes of the crowd circulated on social media and on Mexican television, showing some gatherers saturated with the flowing fuel.
Videos taken before the blast also showed soldiers milling about the scene and not appearing to make efforts to disperse the mob.
The defense secretary defended the military's actions, saying soldiers had been unable to deter a sometimes "aggressive" crowd. On previous occasions, Cresencio said, people collecting black-market gasoline from ruptured fuel lines have attacked soldiers and police.
The explosion blast intensified the debate over Lopez Obrador's efforts to end what he calls the "scourge" of fuel theft, an illicit industry that has grown in recent years and which is controlled by some of the country's most powerful and violent criminal groups.
The president, a leftist populist elected last year on an anti-corruption platform, has complained that fuel theft costs Mexico $2.5 to $3.5 billion annually.
His efforts in recent weeks to divert fuel from pipelines frequently targeted by thieves and transporting more fuel by tanker truck have sparked gasoline shortages around the country, with hours-long waiting times at some pumping stations.
Critics of the president say his plan have called it poorly executed and unrealistic, as unlikely to succeed as President Felipe Calderon's 2006 decision to put soldiers on the streets to do away with drug cartels, a strategy that increased violence nationwide, leading to tens of thousands of deaths, while failing to diminish the drug trade.
At a news conference Saturday, Lopez Obrador renewed his resolve to "eradicate" gangs of fuel thieves that operate in parts of Mexico where pipelines carry gasoline and diesel from refineries to major population centers.
"We have to continue with the plan to end the robbery of fuel," Lopez Obrador said. "We are not going to stop; we are going to eradicate this."
But the president also expressed sympathy for people in towns and rural areas who rely on the illegal fuel trade. Many, he said, had "no alternatives" because of the widespread poverty and lack of opportunity in their regions.
In coming days, the president said he would visit the pipeline zones and outline an alternate economic development plan, including low-interest loans, for them.
The president said he would refrain from blaming anyone for the explosion until an all the evidence is in.
"We are not going to confront fire with fire," Lopez Obrador said. "We are not going to confront violence with violence."
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(Linthicum reported from Mexico City. Cecilia Sanchez of The Times' Mexico City bureau and special correspondent Liliana Nieto del Rio contributed to this report.)
