Death toll in Mexico pipeline fire reaches 89

MEXICO CITY – The death toll in a massive fire at an illegally tapped pipeline in Mexico has risen to 89 as more of the injured have died at hospitals.

Health Secretary Jorge Alcocer says 51 victims severely burned in the fire are still in hospitals. Two have been sent to a U.S. hospital in Galveston, Texas.

The victims were gathering gasoline from an illegal pipeline tap in the central state of Hidalgo on Friday when the gas ignited, littering an alfalfa field with charred bodies.

The government reported Monday that an astonishing total of 14,894 such illegal taps had been found in 2018, an average of about 41 per day.

Hidalgo was the state with the highest number of such taps, with 2,121.