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VERACRUZ, Mexico – At least 26 people have died while another thirteen are being treated for severe burns after a fire swept through a popular bar in the southern Mexican state of Veracruz.

The General Prosecutor’s Office, in a statement issued Wednesday, said the tragedy took place late Tuesday in the El Caballo Blanco bar, in the port city of Coatzacoalcos.

“As a result of the fire in the bar, 23 people have been killed, eight women and 15 men,” the statement said.

“Thirteen people have sustained serious injuries and are already receiving medical assistance in different medical centres,” the General Prosecutor’s Office statement said.

Later, the Mexican president confirmed the death toll had risen to 25, with the death of two people that had been injured.

Later a 26th person died.

There were reports locally that the fire resulted from an attack involving molotov cocktails or gasoline bombs. A report from the Mexico News Daily said five or 6 gunmen entered the bar and opened fire on patrons, before initiating the blaze.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said before the fire started those responsible blocked the emergency exits.

“The criminals went in, closed the doors, the emergency exits, and set fire to the place,” he said.

“This is the most inhuman thing possible. It is regrettable that organised crime acts in this manner.”

Veracruz Governor Cuitlahuac Garcia later on Wednesday said that evidence had emerged that the owner of the bar had been kidnapped on Saturday and later decapitated.

A gang had been wanting to sell drugs in the bar, the governor said.

Garcia said one of the people responsible for the attack had been arrested last month but was released later.

“Evidence about the deplorable crime in the bar in Coatzacoalcos points to one of the people responsible for the attack as a man who was arrested in July, but was released less than 48 hours later by the state Attorney General’s Office,” Garcia said in a Tweet.

Veracruz Attorney General Jorge Winckler, who was responsible for releasing the suspect, was appointed by Garcia’s predecessor Miguel ngel Yunes, and has been a target of attacks by the governor since he took office last year, according to the Mexico News Daily.

In his morning press conference on Wednesday, President Lopez Obrador was critical of Winckler, and announced he has ordered the Federal Attorney General’s Office to take over the investigation.

“There’s a problem that needs to be investigated about the actions of the Veracruz Attorney General’s Office,” he said. “We’re asking the Federal Attorney General to take over this issue and carry out a thorough investigation.”

Coatzacoalcos, a Gulf coast port city is considered a major transit point for the trafficking of drugs in Mexico.