Authorities yesterday began the grim task of recovering the charred remains of 28 people killed in a massive oil pipeline blast that turned a huge section of a central Mexican town into a raging fireball.

Sunday’s inferno, which was blamed on thieves tapping into pipelines to steal fuel, took hours to subdue and claimed the lives of at least 13 children. Another 52 people were injured.

The fire, one of the most disastrous in Mexico’s history, engulfed everything in its path, leaving a smouldering, three-kilometre radius disaster area.

Hundreds of people had to be evacuated from homes damaged and in some cases, levelled by the explosion.

Officials said the blast was probably caused by thieves trying to tap into pipelines that are under high pressure, at a pumping station in San Martin Texmelucan, about 100 kilometres southeast of Mexico City.

Visitors yesterday to the town of some 135,000 people were greeted by the apocalyptic scene of charred houses and incinerated cars, while a pungent smell of burned crude lingered in the air.

Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the state owned company which owns the pipeline, has combated a growing oil theft problem in recent weeks as smuggling rings operating drilling machinery sell stolen fuel to truck drivers looking to buy black market fuel at bargain prices.

Such fuel thefts have been on the rise in recent years, causing losses that average 10 billion pesos ($800 million) annually, according to authorities.

Officials yesterday said they were carrying out a massive investigation for those responsible, whom they vowed would be charged in the deaths of the victims incinerated in the inferno.

Local and federal officials descended on the town during the grim investigation into how the blaze got started and who was to blame.

President Felipe Calderon visited the disaster scene on Sunday, and promised victims any needed government aid.