Death toll in Mexico gasoline pipeline blast climbs to 96

Hidalgo's government said in a statement that 96 people had been confirmed dead from the explosion, the worst to affect Mexico's troubled oil infrastructure in several years

In this image provided by the Secretary of National Defense, soldiers guard the area by an oil pipeline explosion in Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo state, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 18, 2019.

The number of people who died in a gasoline pipeline explosion in central Mexico late last week has risen to 96, government officials said on Tuesday, from 91 reported a day earlier.

The explosion on last Friday occurred after hundreds of people people crowded in to collect gasoline gushing from a pipeline that had been ruptured by suspected fuel thieves near to the town of Tlahuelilpan in the state of Hidalgo.

Hidalgo's government said in a statement that 96 people had been confirmed dead from the explosion, the worst to affect Mexico's troubled oil infrastructure in several years. Another 48 people were receiving treatment for their injuries, it added.

Central Mexico had been hard-hit by gasoline shortages since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador launched a crackdown on fuel theft nearly a month ago, ordering pipelines closed in an effort to stamp out criminal activity.