At least 66 people were killed and dozens injured 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.
Hidalgo's governor Omar Fayad said the number of victims could still rise depending on what emergency services discovered where the blaze had been hottest, which had been difficult to access.
Shortly before midnight local time, Public Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said the fire had been put out, and that the government would need time to establish the final death toll.
Images published on broadcaster Televisa showed people with severe burns from the blast as ambulances and doctors treated the victims.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has launched a major crackdown on rampant fuel theft, which the government said cost the country more than $3bn (€2.6m) last year.
The explosion was one of the worst in recent history in a country that has suffered hundreds of illegal ruptures to its network of oil and gas pipelines.
The ruptured pipeline was near the Tula refinery of state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), which in a statement blamed the incident on an illegal tap.
Separate television footage showed the pipeline gushing a fountain of fuel earlier in the day and dozens of people at the site trying to fill buckets and plastic containers.
