Thousands of people have attended a Mass for victims of a fire which swept through a children’s day-care centre in Mexico on Friday.

The blaze, in the city of Hermosillo, killed 42 children, most under two years old, a government official said.

Thirty-three more people were still in hospital with smoke inhalation and burns, said Daniel Karam, director of Mexico’s Social Security Institute.
-Reuters

More than 5,000 attended a Mass for the victims at a concert hall Sunday evening in Hermosillo, the capital of the northwestern state of Sonora where the fire erupted Friday.

A Mexican governor vowed Monday to fully investigate a fire at a day care center that killed 44 children and left dozens fighting their lives, assuring the public that no one will be immune to the probe.

The Sonora state health department reported that one child died Sunday from injuries suffered in the blaze at the ABC day care in Hermosillo, and 2-year-old girl died Monday shortly before she was to board a flight to California for treatment.

The deaths brought the total from Friday’s fire to 44.

Dozens more children were being treated for severe burns and smoke inhalation in hospitals in Mexico and the United States.
-AP

The fire is said to have started in an adjacent warehouse storing cars and tires. The day care center, initially, showed no signs of danger, however, tragedy occured when the smoke and hot air entered the top part of the bodega causing the false cieling made of polyurethane to heat and emit toxic fumes. The cieling then begin to melt, which caused a literal rain of fire, before collapsing onto the children.

In minutes, the cieling began to collapse. It was like it was raining fire on the children. Very quickly the firey rain came and then it fell, the cieling just came down on top of them.
- Martin Lugo, fire chief at scene.

No fire alarm or sprinkler system went off inside the center, according to witnesses. One mother said there was only one exit, while a second door was locked and nobody could find the key.

Govenor Bours said fire alarms attached to a false ceiling failed to detect the smoke as it seeped into a space overhead, underneath the center’s roof. After heating up, the ceiling panels collapsed before the alarms could sound.

Mexico’s government provides low-cost day care for almost 230,000 children of working parents at 1,562 centers across the country. Like the ABC day care, many of them are leased to private owners, a system Karam said has proved efficient for decades. After the fire, he said the government’s safety standards would be re-evaluated.

“No one is above the law. We are going to look for the causes, find those responsible and nothing will stop us. The ... children who have died, and their parents deserve at least that.”

-Governor Bours

Bours said more than 30 adults and children remained hospitalized, 21 in serious condition.