 News agencies from all over the world have descended upon a relatively, well to the outside world at least, unknown Mexican town. They are reporting on a rather bizarre event. It looks like this field has just exploded. Was it a bomb, a deliberate act or some kind of industrial disaster? Well, kind of, but not all of the above. The disaster was the result of a gasoline explosion, caused by what officials believe to be fuel theft on a large scale. Theft that had become pretty common in the country. Today we will be looking at the 2019 Pan pipeline explosion. My name is John and welcome to Plainly Difficult. Background. This is Pemex. It's owned by the Mexican state and operated by the country's government. The name is a portamento of petroleum and Mexico. The company manages and maintains a pipeline network that crosses the country. The company throughout its history has had a multitude of disasters. As such, its balance sheet was so bad that it is one of the most indebted oil companies in the world. It exports crude oil, but it also imports petroleum. This causes issues with pricing, not great in a country with high levels of poverty. The country's GDP per capita in 2019 was $10,450 compared to the USA's $65,100. Pemex's infrastructure was a regular victim of theft, with organised crime perforating the company's pipelines to extract fuel for sale on the black market. Instances of theft followed upward and downward trends of the international fuel prices. The higher it goes, the more petrol finds its way into the illicit market. There was a lot of money involved. As such, the usual organised crime tactics of bribery and strong-arming were used with Pemex officials to inform them of when the pipelines in the country are to be used. Thieves have the local slang name of Cuechileros. The stolen fuel they sell goes down pretty well in the poorer communities as it is significantly cheaper than official channels. The problem was widespread throughout the country, with over 13,000 instances of people drilling into the pipelines to steal fuel in 2018 alone. It was costing Pemex and by extension the Mexican government around $3 billion per year in repairs and compensation to customers. But the powers that be wanted to change this financially draining and excuse the pun form of organised crime. On the 1st of December 2018, Andreas Manuel Lopez Obrador assumed the office of the president of Mexico and one of his policies was to stamp out fuel theft. The plan was simple, guard the pipelines and divert the fuel from the pipes and transport it via truck. Some 5,000 soldiers and police were drafted up for guard duties, but the plan would come with some unwanted issues. You see all of a sudden, starting transporting the country's petroleum needs via truck instead of pipe created logistic issues. Shorted is at petrol pumps, resulted in long queues and hiking prices. Desperation usually begins to sink in when there are fuel shortages. I remember just a few years ago in London we had a fuel shortage and the queues were really something else. This then creates a bigger demand for fuel, which can be plugged by the black market. By January 2019, the logistical issues were really biting in. But luckily or unluckily as it would turn out, one of the country's main pipelines that crosses Hidalgo State had sprung a leak. The disaster. So we're back in the town of Kirlulupan. Just a few miles away is the Pemex Refinery in Tula de Allende and it is being pumped to the port city of Tupan. Transfers are done by pipeline and as such, one line runs through Kirlulupan. On the 18th of January 2019, rumours are spreading about the town that a high pressure petrol pipeline has sprung a leak in a field to the south west. As the news spreads, residents start making their way down to the pipeline with anything that could carry petrol. People took buckets, plastic bottles, watering cans and gerry cans with them to try and capture some of the free fuel. Now the cause of the leak is unknown. Officials suggested rather strongly that thieves were the cause, but there was always a possibility of a pipeline failure, albeit rather unlikely. As the public descended upon the pipeline, 25 soldiers were already at the scene. However, they were not properly equipped for dealing with what some witnesses would claim as nearly a thousand locals trying to get some free fuel. Just to add a note here, the estimated numbers of people was thought to be officially between six and eight hundred. The soldiers, who were heavily outnumbered, were shouted at and threatened with sticks and rocks when attempting to intervene. Eventually, they couldn't stop the flow of people and their officers ordered them to pull back and to not engage with any fuel thieves due to the risk of a shootout causing an explosion and or catching anyone in the crossfire. At around 5pm, a 911 call was made to report the leak, but Pemex chose not to operate the isolation valves as they believed the leak was small. As the petrol was shot into the air, it released highly flammable fumes. Many at the scene were covered in petrol and it would only be a matter of time until pretty much a fuel-air bomb materialising at the pipeline would go off. Disaster would strike just two hours after the 911 call at 10.07pm. The fumes ignited, quickly a fireball erupted, spreading out to the surrounding fuel-soaked fields. Anyone within the facility of the explosion was burned beyond recognition. Needless to say, the death toll was high due to the crowds that had gathered to fill up on the free petrol. Shrapnel from the pipeline had spread out into the surrounding fields, injuring even more. The area surrounding the pipeline looked like a war zone. Just look at this dramatic footage. Flames would keep on being fuelled by the lack of fuel isolation. Even after Pemex operated the isolation valves, firefighters would take over four hours to extinguish the blaze. Dozens of injured were strewn across the burnt fields. Many were airlifted to hospitals in the surrounding areas. Some were even taken out as far as Texas and the United States. The immediate area around the blast site was evacuated, leading to even more people being displaced. The aftermath. So there was a field with over 130 dead bodies needing identification. And this would prove to be difficult as, well let's just say, many were beyond recognition. Anyone who could be identified via face-to-face observation in local morgues was done so. However, others would be identified using personal items. But a significant amount of the deceased would have to be identified by DNA, and this would require a lot of time, leaving many families without closure. Officials, pretty quickly after the disaster, announced that none of the locals that had descended upon the perforated pipeline would be criminally charged. Officials investigating the explosion pretty quickly put forward a theory of organised crime being behind the leak. The cause of the explosion was slightly less obvious. Was it deliberate or not? It's kind of hard to tell. The initial theory was that a static electricity had set off the vaporised petrol. I mean, all it would take would be just one spark. The disaster was a result of the social economic issues prevalent in Mexico. With no cheap alternatives to fuel, many more people than usual had gone to the leak location. Even the mayor, one Pedro Cruz-Frez, would say the disaster was especially bad because the locals acted out of necessity rather than greed, albeit still being irresponsible. Each victim's family had been compensated with 15,000 Mexican dollars, roughly 800 US dollars, as well as having any medical and funeral costs covered. But not particularly the best payout, I would say. Perforations still continue to be an issue within Mexico, and it costs the country millions every year. Which is still not much of a consolation for those who died in 2019. This is a plainly foot production. All videos in the channel are Creative Commons Attribution ShareLite licensed. Plainly foot videos are produced by me, John, in the currently very wet and windy corner of southern London, UK. I have Instagram and a second YouTube channel, as well as Twitter or X or whatever the hell you want to call it, so check them out for extra odds and sods. And all that's left to say is thank you for watching and Mr Music plays out please.