Five people were killed after an oil leak sparked a large fire just outside the Olmeca Refinery in the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco on Tuesday, state oil company Pemex reported.
Four of the deceased were workers for a services company not affiliated with Pemex, while the fifth victim was a woman who worked for the state oil company. The refinery is located in the municipality of Paraíso.
Pemex said in a statement that the four service company workers were in a vehicle on a federal road adjacent to the refinery when “the disaster occurred” on Tuesday morning.
According to the newspaper El Universal, the workers abandoned the vehicle and attempted to reach safety, but were unable to outrun the flames.
In addition to the five fatalities, Pemex said that people were injured in the blaze but didn’t specify how many.
Pemex: Fire started outside the refinery limits
Pemex said that heavy rain caused an “overflow of oily water,” which accumulated outside the perimeter fence of the refinery and subsequently ignited. The state oil company didn’t say what caused the oily water to ignite, but noted that it is collaborating with authorities to determine the cause. The oil spill occurred near a fuel storage facility.
Pemex said that the fire reached the perimeter fence of the refinery but didn’t damage the actual infrastructure of the facilty, which was built during the 2018-24 government led by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The blaze was extinguished, and Pemex said on Tuesday night that the refinery was operating normally.
The company expressed its “deepest condolences” to the families and friends of the five people killed in the fire. It also said it was providing “comprehensive care” to those injured.
The Olmeca Refinery, also known as the Dos Bocas refinery, is one of eight refineries operated by Pemex. Seven are in Mexico and one is in Texas.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that the the US $21 billion Olmeca Refinery “has experienced a series of operating problems, including stoppages, and has failed to meet the production targets promised upon inauguration.”
At least three people have died in previous accidents at the facility.
In 2022, heavy rain caused flooding at the refinery, whose original projected cost was just under $9 billion. The refinery was built on the Gulf coast on land that is susceptible to flooding.
The fire outside the facility occurred one day before the 88th anniversary of the nationalization of oil reserves in Mexico. President Lázaro Cárdenas nationalized the Mexican oil industry on March 18, 1938.
With reports from EFE, Expansión, El Universal, Reforma and El Financiero
