Mexico day care deaths stir anger at safety rules

updated 6:22 p.m. ET June 7, 2009

HERMOSILLO, Mexico - As the day care swiftly filled with smoke, caretakers, neighbors and parents fought to evacuate 142 children — many of them babies and toddlers — through a single working exit until rescue crews arrived.

No fire alarm or sprinkler system had gone off, and one mother said a second door to the day care was bolted shut and nobody could find the key.

Forty children were killed in the devastating fire, which raised doubts about safety standards at more than 1,500 centers where Mexico's government provides low-cost care for at least 200,000 children.

President Felipe Calderon, who visited some of the 33 children hospitalized on Saturday night, pledged to launch a thorough investigation into the cause of a tragedy that has stunned Mexico.

Firefighters, parents and neighbors who rushed to help rescue the children said there was only one working exit — the front door — and that no fire alarm or sprinkler system went off. Several desperate civilians broke huge holes into the outer walls, including one man who rammed his pickup truck against the day care three times.

Passed safety inspection
Yet the ABC day care — a converted warehouse in Hermosillo, capital of the northwestern state of Sonora — passed a safety inspection less than two weeks before the fire Friday, according to Daniel Karam, the director of Mexico's Social Security Institute, which outsourced services to the privately run center.

"How it is possible that they found no problems? Here we have the results," said Karla Gastelum, whose 3-year-old daughter and 2-year-old niece were at the day care but escaped unharmed. Four children in her daughter's class died.

The fire initially spread from an adjoining tire and car warehouse to the roof of the day care and sent flames raining down. Fire officials still don't know how it started.

Slideshow   Day care tragedy in Mexico A fire that raced through a state-run day care center in Hermosillo, Mexico, took the lives of at least 38 infants and toddlers. more photos

Gastelum, 25, said she was having lunch at her mother-in-law's house about a block from the day care when she saw the fire and raced over. She found her daughter hovering near the door, swept her out of the smoky building and ran back inside to search for her niece. She did not find the younger child but later found out she had also escaped unharmed.

Gastelum said a larger door to the day care was bolted shut, and teachers later told her nobody could find the key. She said she heard no fire alarm and saw no sprinklers go off.

Hermosillo Fire Department Chief Martin Lugo said the building had fire alarms but they did not go off because they were not installed properly, the daily Reforma newspaper reported.

Holes punched through the walls
Another fire department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the fire, said firefighters fought to evacuate children through the only working exit and the huge holes that civilians had punched through the walls.

Similar problems have been blamed for previous disaster in Mexico: In 2000, a fire killed 21 people at a glitzy Mexico City disco that only had one available exit, lacked smoke detectors and did not have enough fire extinguishers. Last year, 12 people died when police raiding a Mexico city nightclub blocked the overcrowded club's lone working exit, creating a deadly stampede. The emergency exits had been blocked.

MORE FROM AMERICAS

Americas Section Front

Brazilian police accused of 'extrajudicial' force   Honduras’ top anti-drug official killed Italian journalist fatally shot at Haitian bank Brazil arrests 6 suspects in $6M tunnel heist Americas Section Front   Add Americas headlines to your news reader: