Mexican daycare blaze toll rises to 42: official

At least 42 children have been killed in a fierce fire that raced through a daycare centre in the northeastern Mexican state of Sonora, a government official said late Sunday.

"The latest report we have puts the number of deceased at 42, with 33 people remaining hospitalised," Daniel Karam, an official with Mexico's Social Security administration, told reporters.

The previous death toll reported by the Mexican government stood at 41.

Many of the 142 children in the day care facility were taking an afternoon nap when the fire broke out late Friday.

Most of the children died from smoke inhalation, officials said. Others died when the roof in the crib room collapsed.

The centre lacked emergency exits and the structure was so weak that part of the roof caved in on an area where many newborn babies were sleeping, reports said.

The daycare center was housed in an old warehouse on a dirt road in the center of Hermosillo. Local media reported it had only two doors, one of which was always locked, and five windows high on its walls.

But state authorities said the facility passed a safety inspection in May.

Local media suggested the fire had started in a neighboring tire shop, a claim the shop owners quickly denied, according to news reports.

Emergency services arrived some time after locals began bringing victims out, witnesses told AFP.

A 40-year-old man who lives in front of the center and was the first to arrive told La Reforma daily how he handed burnt and lifeless bodies that he pulled from the building to his neighbours.

"It was a terrifying experience," said the man, identified as Roberto Bustamante, as he choked back tears. "There was a lot of smoke, but there were no children's cries. They were all unconscious or dead."

Some of the injured had been transferred to the western state of Jalisco to be treated by doctors specialised in children's burns, said Daniel Karam of the Mexican Social Security Institute.

One was even flown to a burns unit at a hospital in Sacramento in the US state of California.

"This has been a painful tragedy for all Mexicans," said President Felipe Calderon.

"I have ordered the federal prosecutor to carry out investigations as soon as possible to help us know exactly what happened and how, and to determine the corresponding responsibility."

 

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