Mexico fuel-pipe blaze death toll rises to 66: Governor
Mexico City, Jan 19: An explosion and fire killed at least 66 people who were collecting fuel gushing from a leaking pipeline in central Mexico, the Hidalgo state governor said on Saturday.
"The toll that we have until a few minutes ago... is 66 dead, while 76 are injured," said the governor, Omar Fayad.
Forensic specialists on Saturday worked among the charred corpses at the scene, which was guarded by soldiers as a smell of fuel still hung in the air.
Scores of locals with jerry cans and buckets had been collecting gasoline that was gushing from the pipeline when the blast occurred on Friday, according to witnesses.
Video taken in the aftermath showed people fleeing the scene, screaming for help, as an enormous fire lit up the night sky in Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo state, 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Mexico City.
The tragedy comes as the federal government wages a highly publicized war on fuel theft, a problem that cost Mexico an estimated 3 billion in 2017.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador traveled to the scene in the early hours of Saturday.
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UP: Five of family arrested for assaulting a cop during raid in Sultanpuri
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Police has arrested five of a family for allegedly assaulting a police officer and snatching his service pistol during a raid in the Sultanpuri area, an official said on Wednesday.
The accused are Rajender (50), his sons Ritik (24), Sachin (29), Abhishek (26), and his daughter Komal (22).
The incident occurred on September 2, when a team from the Anti-Narcotics Task Force arrested Alka, wife of Rajender, for possession of heroin, police said.
During the raid, Alka's family members attacked a police officer with sticks and bricks and snatched his service pistol, mobile phone, and wallet. However, the officer managed to recover his service pistol, they said.
Police said that an FIR was registered and an investigation was launched.
Acting on a tip-off, police arrested the accused, absconding since the incident, from a flat in Raghubir Nagar in Delhi.
