A petrol tanker has exploded in Mexico City killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens more.
Rescuers feared the death toll in the suburb of Ecatepec could rise as they continued sifting through the charred remains of vehicles and homes on the northern edge of the metropolis.
A large piece of the truck was blown a hundred yards by the force of the blast, landing on the wall of a house and cars parked outside. Charred wreckage of cars littered the blast site.
Hundreds of police, ambulances drivers and paramedics, soldiers and firefighters gathered at the scene, where a giant plume of smoke rose over the area after the explosion at about 5am local time.
The explosion closed the road between Mexico City and Pachuca. The accident exposed two recurrent public safety issues in Mexico: extremely heavy trucks that are frequently involved in serious accidents, and the construction of improvised homes just feet away from major highways. Some of the cinderblock homes hit by the massive explosion were just steps away from the busy, six-lane highway.
Mexican trucks, often overloaded or unsafely operated, have been involved in a number of spectacular, deadly accidents in recent years. One year ago, the Mexican government announced measures to tighten inspections and lower maximum allowed weights for freight trucks after protests over a string of deadly accidents involving double-trailer trucks.
Mexico had allowed trucks to travel two-lane roads with loads of up to 80 metric tons and lengths exceeding 100 feet, compared to a US limit of 40 tons on interstate highways. It subsequently reduced that limit by about 4.5 tons.
In April 2012, a double-trailer truck on a two-lane road in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz lost its rear trailer, which slammed into a bus carrying farm workers, killing 43 people.
AP