Truck explodes killing at least 19

MEXICO CITY (AP):

A gas tanker truck exploded on a highway lined with homes in the Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec early yesterday, killing at least 19 people and injuring three dozen, according to the Citizen Safety Department of Mexico State, which surrounds Mexico City.

Officials did not rule out the possibility the death toll could rise more as emergency workers continued sifting through the charred remains of vehicles and homes built just steps near the highway on the northern edge of the metropolis.

Residents pitched in to rescue people from the wreckage of crushed and burned cars and shattered working class homes of cinderblock, brick and concrete. Television footage showed plumes of flame shooting out of homes in the pre-dawn darkness.

NO CAUSE REPORTED

Authorities did not immediately report a cause for the explosion.

"We just pulled burned people, and put out the fire in the houses, but we don't really know what happened," said Rogelio Martinez, a resident of the neighborhood where the crash occurred.

Emergency personnel at the scene pulled dead victims from their homes, some apparently burned in their beds. An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw rescue workers carry three bodies, covered with white sheets, from one home.

A huge piece of the truck's gas tank was blown 50 yards by the force of the blast, landing atop the wall of a house and cars parked outside. Charred wreckage of cars littered the blast site. A number of pigs and other farm animals that were kept on patios were killed.