Showing posts with label Day care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Day care. Show all posts

Owners of day care that burned quit government jobs

June 9, 2009 -- Updated 0256 GMT (1056 HKT)

Story Highlights

  • NEW: Relatives of victims plan to march Wednesday evening
  • Two owners resign to avoid any obstruction in the fire investigation, they say
  • Co-owner: We didn't use government positions to obtain the day-care concession
  • 44 children died in the day-care fire Friday in Hermosillo, Mexico

On Monday, two girls lay flowers during a funeral of one of the 44 children who died in the day-care fire.

HERMOSILLO, Mexico (CNN) -- Two of the owners of the day-care center that burned Friday, killing 44 children, have resigned jobs they had with the government, they told reporters Tuesday.

Antonio Salido, a functionary for the state of Sonora's secretary of urban infrastructure, and Alfonso Escalante, a sub-secretary of livestock farming, said they were resigning so that there would be no obstruction in the investigation into the cause of the fire.

Salido, speaking for both men, told reporters they had not used their government positions to obtain the day-care concession.

"We want to show you how deeply we feel about what happened in the terrible accident that occurred at ABC Day Care," he said.

"It passed the security measures and norms of operation required by the Mexican Institute of Social Security," he said, referring to the governmental organization that oversees the state-run school.

He noted that the institute's director, Daniel Karam Toumeh, said Sunday that the building had passed an inspection on May 26.

Abel Murrieta Gutierrez, the attorney general of Sonora, told CNN en Español that the investigation would not be affected by the fact that two of the owners worked for the government.

"It doesn't matter to us if they were or were not functionaries," he said.

Relatives of the victims and people seeking better security for day-care centers are planning to march Wednesday evening from near the day-care center to the government center.

The fire started Friday afternoon in an air-conditioning unit located in an adjacent warehouse, the attorney general of Sonora said Monday. Investigators are trying to determine whether the fire was caused by an overheated motor or deficiencies in its installation, Abel Murrieta Gutierrez said.

The fire then moved toward bookshelves on a wall shared with the building housing the center, which held 141 children and day-care workers, he added.

The two buildings also shared a roof, which contained a false bottom made of polyurethane. That overheated, emitting toxic fumes, he said.

As of Tuesday, 22 children remained hospitalized with burns.

One of them was the daughter of Raul Alvarez, who prayed Tuesday at an improvised altar outside the Children's Hospital in Hermosillo. "We went to see her this morning, and she was stable, the little girl," he said.

Hermosillo is the capital of the state of Sonora, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the U.S. border in northwestern Mexico.

It has no hospitals that specialize in burns, so doctors here have been working to stabilize those most badly burned before sending them on for treatment in other cities.

"The most important thing is not so much the burn, but stabilizing them, making sure the kidney is functioning, the lung is functioning, the liver is functioning, the brain is functioning," said Raymond Lopez, Sonora's health secretary.

From CNN.com; see the source article here.


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Parents rammed cars into burning day care

Latest, updated 2 hours, 15 minutes ago

Story Highlights
NEW: Funerals for children killed in Mexican day care center fire begin
Neighbors describe panic, horror as parents try to rescue kids from burning building
One door was padlocked shut and children couldn't get to high windows, officials say
At least 41 children die in fire; dozens more in hospitals in Mexico and U.S.

Maria Jesus Coronado Padilla mourns her 2-year-old daughter, Paulette Daniela Coronado Padilla on Sunday.

HERMOSILLO, Mexico (CNN) -- Parents in northern Mexico on Sunday began to bury the children who died in a horrific day care fire as Mexican authorities raised the death toll from the blaze to 41.

A large crowd of mourners attended a funeral for six of the victims Sunday afternoon in Hermosillo, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the U.S. border. The cause of Friday's fire at ABC Day Care wasn't known, but investigators concluded that the fire didn't start inside the building, said Eduardo Bours, the governor of Sonora state.

Neighbors described parents arriving at the day care center completely desperate on Friday, seeing it engulfed in flames and knowing there was no way to get the children out. The building had two doors, one of which was padlocked shut, and windows were too high for the children to reach, officials said.

Some parents rammed their vehicles into the building to try to free the trapped children, witnesses told CNN.

"When we went out and ran towards the nursery, teachers already had many children outside, those who could walk properly," said one man at the scene, who did not give his name. "A pickup truck broke down the walls. The dad of one of the kids broke down one of the walls with his car driving in reverse, and that helped us a bit."

Others said they waited for hours for news of their children.

"They didn't tell us anything, nothing, until like 6 p.m.," said Ofelia Vasquez, whose 4-year-old son Herman was in the building. She said she eventually was told he was at Chavez Hospital.

"We went there and we saw that he was badly burned, 75 percent of his body was burned," she said.

Herman Vasquez died after surgery, his mother said.

As of Sunday afternoon, 26 children remained hospitalized, 12 of them in critical condition, Sonoran authorities said. Another 10 children had been transported to other hospitals: eight to Guadalajara, one to Ciudad, Obregon, and two to Sacramento, California.

A team of 29 medical experts in Hermosillo was deciding if any more victims would be moved to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Sacramento, or elsewhere.

In addition, six adults were injured, Sonora spokesman Daniel Duran said.

"Without a doubt this is the worst disaster we've had," Bours told CNN.

President Felipe Calderon traveled to Hermosillo on Saturday. He arrived with Interior Secretary Fernando Gomez Mont and Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova to get firsthand updates from doctors and investigators, the state news agency Notimex reported.

Calderon ordered the nation's attorney general to investigate the blaze.

Most of the victims died from smoke inhalation and not burns, Bours said. But the fire was serious enough for the roof to collapse, he added.

At the time of the blaze, 142 children were inside the ABC Day Care. The day care is for children ages 2 to 4, but Bours confirmed that children even younger were among the victims.

All the children at the center had been accounted for by Saturday evening, Bours said.

A severely burned 3-year-old girl arrived Saturday at the Sacramento hospital -- where pediatric burn treatment is a specialty -- and was in critical condition, according to Dr. Tina Palmieri, assistant chief of the burn unit.

The child was burned over 80 percent of her body, the doctor told reporters. She said the hospital normally can save just over half of the children with burns that severe.

In Hermosillo, a large crowd gathered outside of the emergency entrance of the city's general hospital and many people consoled each other, video from the scene showed.

"They told me that this happened in a matter of five minutes," Hermosillo Mayor Ernesto Gandara told reporters after surveying the scene.

From CNN.com; see the source article here.


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Death toll grows to 38 in Mexico day care fire

June 6, 2009 -- Updated 0256 GMT (1056 HKT)

Story Highlights

NEW: President Felipe Calderon travels to Hermosillo to meet with health officials

NEW: Officials believe blaze did not start in center; attorney general to investigate

NEW: 23 children remained hospitalized, 15 of them in critical condition

One child admitted to Shriners Hospitals in Sacramento, California

090606-1056hkt A crib and baby seats lie outside a day care center Friday in Hermosillo, Mexico, as police cordon off the area.

HERMOSILLO, Mexico (CNN) -- President Felipe Calderon traveled to Hermosillo on Saturday to meet with health officials as the death toll of a day care center fire there grew to 38 children.

The cause of Friday's blaze remained unknown, but investigators concluded that the fire did not start inside the ABC Day Care, Eduardo Bours, the governor of Sonora state said.

As of Saturday night, 23 children remained hospitalized, 15 of them in critical condition, Sonora spokesman Daniel Duran told CNN. Another 10 children had been transported to other hospitals: eight to Guadalajara, one to Ciudad Obregon, and one to Sacramento, California.

A team of 29 medical experts in Hermosillo were deciding if any more victims would be moved to the Shriners Hospital in Sacramento, or elsewhere.

In addition, six adults were injured, Duran said.

"Without a doubt this is the worst disaster we've had," Bours told CNN.

The president arrived with Interior Secretary Fernando Gomez Mont and Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova to get firsthand updates from doctors and investigators, the state news agency Notimex reported.

Calderon ordered the nation's attorney general to investigate the blaze.

Most of the victims died from smoke inhalation and not burns, Bours said. But the fire was enough for the roof to collapse, he added.

At the time of the blaze, 142 children were inside the ABC Day Care. The day care is for children ages 2 to 4, but Bours confirmed that children even younger were among the victims.

All the children at the day care had been accounted for by Saturday evening, Bours said.

A severely burned 3-year-old girl arrived Saturday at the Sacramento hospital -- where pediatric burn treatment is a specialty -- and was in critical condition, according to Dr. Tina Palmieri, assistant chief of the burn unit.

The child was burned over 80 percent of her body, the doctor told reporters. She said the hospital normally can save just over half of the children with burns that severe.

In Hermosillo, a large crowd gathered outside of the emergency entrance of the city's general hospital and many people consoled each other, video from the scene showed.

"They told me that this happened in a matter of five minutes," Hermosillo Mayor Ernesto Gandara told reporters after surveying the scene.

From CNN.com; see the source article here.


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