At least 20 people were killed and 71 were injured on Friday 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.

Axar.az reports citing Reuters.

Mexican television footage showed flames leaping into the night sky in the municipality of Tlahuelilpan, in Hidalgo state north of Mexico City, as people shouted and cried for help.

Hidalgo’s governor Omar Fayad told Mexican television that emergency services had registered the charred bodies of 20 people, and that at least 71 others had been injured. However, the blaze had yet to be extinguished, he said.

“There’s still a very hot area where we think the number of injured or dead we haven’t had access to could rise,” he said.

Images published on broadcaster Televisa showed people with severe burns from the blast as the government sent in ambulances and doctors to treat 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 $3 billion last year.