35 infants perish in Mexico

HERMOSILLO, Mexico, (AFP) - A fire at a daycare centre in northern Mexico has killed at least 35 children under the age of two and left dozens of others injured, police and officials said Saturday. Many of the victims from Fridays blaze died from asphyxiation, officials said, as the death toll continued to rise.
There were 142 children in the nursery, 35 have died, and another 41 are hospitalised, Eduardo Bours, governor of the northern state of Sonora said at a press conference. He added that six adults were hospitalised from the blaze. Jose Larrinaga, a spokesman for the local prosecutors office, told reporters after the fire died down that it was too early to announce a final toll.
In desperate scenes, local residents smashed the cement walls of the centre, in the state capital Hermosillo, with cars and vans to try to save the children, Larrinaga said on the Televisa TV station.
Radio reports said there were many newborn babies in a part of the centre where the fire caused the roof to collapse.
Between 50 and 70 children and a handful of care workers had been taking an afternoon nap when the fire broke out Friday, Larrinaga said.
The centre, in a working class neighbourhood in the south of Hermosillo, had a staff of around 20 people. It was part of the national social security network, the Mexican presidency said in a statement.
President Felipe Calderon had felt most profound pain and expressed his most deeply felt condolences to the families of the children, the statement said.
The federal government has rushed three additional ambulance crews to the area as well as a dozen medical specialists trained to work with burn victims, the presidency statement said.
State investigators followed firefighters, Red Cross workers and police to the scene, according to police.
Local media suggested the fire had started in a neighbouring tire shop, a claim the shop owners quickly denied, according to news reports.
But the local prosecutors office cautioned against premature conclusions, saying at the moment it would be adventurous to pass judgment on what caused the fire.
Meanwhile, dozens of worried families gathered at the centre as well as at hospitals around the city.
Medics transferred five children who had been identified by their parents to Sonora state childrens hospital, a medical worker told AFP.
At least 30 children with serious burns were transferred overnight to a specialised hospital across the border to the US state of Arizona, according to El Imparcial daily.
Calderon called on the national social security director, Daniel Karam Toumeh, to personally visit families and injured children at the scene, the statement said.
The federal government had sent three air ambulances and more than a dozen specialised doctors to help out, it added.
State Governor Eduardo Bours was in Arizona when the fire broke out and returned to Hermosillo Friday evening.