Death toll in oil plant explosion in Mexico rises to 24

A large blast occurred at one of Pemex's major oil facilities in the southeastern state of Veracruz in Mexico, killing 24 and injuring at least 136 people, according to media reports.

The death toll from a powerful explosion at a petrochemical plant in Mexico climbed to 24 after authorities were able to enter the facility, state-run oil giant Pemex said on Thursday.

This figure is up from Wednesday when it was reported that 13 people died and 136 were injured in an explosion that rocked the state-owned oil company Pemex's facility Pajaritos in Veracruz on Wednesday, officials reported early Thursday.

Local emergency officials reported that hundreds of people had been evacuated from the site. The blast took place in the city of Coatzacoalcos in the south-East Mexican state of Veracruz.

Pemex said the part of the factory hit by the explosion was managed by a sister company, Mexichem.

This incident comes just three weeks after 3 workers were killed and 7 injured at a Pemex oil processing plant in the Gulf of Mexico. Pemex, which until 2014 had a decades-long monopoly over the country’s oil and gas sector, has had a number of large accidents in the past few years.

In 2012, 26 died at a Pemex facility in Northern Mexico in a fire, while in 2013, 37 were killed at the company’s headquarters in Mexico City.

According to the company, oil exports are not affected by this most recent blast.

Source: MENA