Death toll in Mexico pipeline explosion rises to 73

Jan. 20 (UPI) -- The death toll in a gas pipeline explosion in Central Mexico on Friday night rose to 73 people, the governor of the country's Hidalgo state said.

Gov. Omar Fayad wrote on Twitter Saturday the number of those killed had climbed from an initial 66, and that 74 were injured and 24 were being treated in hospitals after the explosion in Tlahuelilpan, a town about 80 miles north of Mexico City.

"The task is to stabilize people to continue with the appropriate treatments," said Fayad.

Mexico's general prosecutor, Alejandro Gertz Manero, said the investigation into the incident has begun and the "preliminary belief" is that static electricity from the clothing of people around the pipeline may have caused the explosion, CNN reported.

There were a large number of people around the pipeline and some were wearing clothing with synthetic fibers that could "generate electric reactions," he said.

Manero added no arrests have been made and witnesses will be interviewed Sunday.

The state-run energy company, Pemex, had announced on Saturday that its own probe into the incident was ongoing and initially said an illegal tap to steal fuel at the Tuxpan-Tula pipeline caused the explosion.

The explosion occurred amid gas stations in several states and the country's country's capital running dry for nearly two weeks. Fayad urged the community not to steal gasoline in the wake of the explosion.