Death toll in Mexico day-care fire rises to 35

By Noel Randewich

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The death toll from a fire at a day-care centre in northern Mexico rose to 35 children with at least 40 more hospitalized, many with life-threatening burns, Mexican authorities said on Saturday.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said he has ordered an investigation into Friday's fire at the ABC day-care centre in the northern city of Hermosillo to find who is to blame.

As flames blocked the centre's doorway, employees and neighbours used cars to punch holes through a wall and stumbled over unconscious infants and toddlers as they tried to rescue them, witnesses said.

Smoke inhalation killed many children before rescuers could reach them, with the victims ranging in age from a few months old to about 3 years old, authorities said. It was unclear where or how the fire started, although it may have broken out in a nearby warehouse or a tyre workshop, the government said.

"According to what our people saw, there was an explosion followed immediately by flames," Daniel Karam, head of the Mexican agency responsible for health care and social security, said at a news conference in Hermosillo.

The city of about 700,000 people is located about 170 miles (270 km) south of the border with the U.S. state of Arizona.

Calderon said he was rushing medical assistance to overwhelmed medical staff in Hermosillo, including air ambulances and specialists in reconstructive surgery.

"I have ordered the attorney general, along with local authorities ... to investigate as soon as possible to find out exactly what happened and identify whoever may be responsible," Calderon said in a speech during an event in the state of Quintana Roo.