MEXICO CITY — Families clustered outside hospitals awaiting word of their loved ones Thursday after the crash and explosion of a tanker truck a day earlier on a Mexico City highway that killed at least eight people and injured 90.

The fire engulfed more than two dozen vehicles and left a gruesome scene of badly burned survivors staggering in the street in tattered clothing as first responders rushed to the scene. The injured suffered second- and third-degree burns.

Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said Thursday the death toll had risen to eight, with 67 others still hospitalized, 22 of those in critical condition.

The accident Wednesday drew renewed attention to the thousands of trucks that rumble through Mexico daily carrying liquid propane, which most homes and businesses rely on for cooking and heating water.

Regulators said a preliminary review revealed that the truck, which was carrying more than 13,000 gallons of gas, did not have up-to-date insurance allowing it to transport its cargo, something the company denied.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday she instructed her energy secretary to design new measures to make transporting fuel safer, but did not provide details.

‘Complete chaos’

Beatriz Aguilar sipped coffee outside a hospital in the south of Mexico City on Thursday morning, awaiting news of her 15-year-old son Adrián who was trapped in the explosion on his way back home from school on a bus.

The last she heard from him was a voice note he sent to a family group message saying he was being taken to the hospital and asking for help. She said she scrambled to get to the hospital and hasn’t left since Wednesday afternoon.

On Thursday, the hallways of the hospital where her son was being treated were still in “complete chaos,” she said.

Aguilar hasn’t been physically able to speak to her son because of his injuries. She said she is most worried about Adrián’s eye and face, which had suffered second-degree burns.

She waited for her son to go into surgery, but the doctors had to cut his clothes off first because they were stuck to his skin. “I just hope he’s okay,” she said.

‘A horrible accident’

Outside hospitals in Mexico City and southeast of the capital, neighbors and officials handed out food and water in solidarity with the victims. Pilar Domínguez, 33, carried a bag of sweet bread.

Domínguez, who lives right next to where the crash happened, was driving with her 9-year-old daughter when she heard the explosion. She felt the ground shake and the area around her erupt into flames on Wednesday.

She said she watched throngs of people fleeing the scene and screaming, as she tried to calm her daughter. She remembers one woman running with most of her skin and hair burned off. It sent chills down her spine as her car filled with the smell of smoke.

She said she broke down crying when she finally got home.

“People were sobbing, screaming, fleeing,” she said.

On Wednesday night, she and her husband pulled together money to buy sweet bread and coffee, which they began handing out to family members waiting outside hospitals all over the city for news.

“It’s a way to help, and also give thanks that we’re still alive,” she said.

Some of those injured suffered burns over 100% of their bodies. Among the injured was a baby and a 2-year-old child.

“This is a horrible accident,” said Brugada, who visited the scene. Sheinbaum, writing on X, expressed her condolences to the families of those who died and thanked the emergency teams for their work.

Not an isolated incident

The crash occurred on the highway in the densely populated Iztapalapa district in the east of Mexico City. As emergency vehicles sped by and medics attended to the injured, groups of neighbors ran to help pull burn victims from the fire and get them to safety.

The burned wreck of the gas tanker carried the logo of the company Silza. When The Associated Press called the company, an official who did not want to be identified denied it was their vehicle.

Later, Silza Transport company said in a statement that it had three current insurance policies to cover damages and the victims, and that it was taking steps to support affected families.

The federal agency charged with regulating industrial safety in the hydrocarbon sector said in a statement that Silza didn’t have updated insurance paperwork required to transport gas.

Silza did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

There have been several incidents involving tankers over the past decade.

In 2020, a double tanker carrying liquid propane flipped on a highway in the western state of Nayarit and killed 13 people when the fire spread to other vehicles.

In 2015, a leak on a smaller propane truck making a delivery at a Mexico City maternity hospital allowed gas to leak into the building and blow most of it up, killing five and injuring dozens.

AP journalists Fernanda Pesce and María Verza contributed to this report.