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 were trying to fill up containers, state and federal authorities said.

In a video shot by local media, Diario Plaza Juarez, showed hundreds of people gathered near the ruptured pipeline before the explosion.Emergency services were later seen arriving at the scene of explosion.

The ruptured pipeline was near the Tula refinery of state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos , which in a statement blamed the incident on an illegal tap.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.