Mexico:Parents Rammed Their Cars Into Burning Day Care That Took 41 Lives

Mexico:Parents Rammed Their Cars Into Burning Day Care That Took 41 Lives and over 100 children and day care workers were injured in the blaze.

Sunday, June 7th, 2009 is a day that parents in northern Mexico on Sunday began to bury their children who died in a horrific daycare fire in Hermosillo, Mexico.

(pic) A local boy looks at the back of the building where the fatal daycare fire happened in Sonona.

A large crowd of mourners attended a funeral for six of the victims Sunday afternoon in Hermosillo, which is only 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the U.S./Mexico border.

Investigation into the fire is still ongoing, and the cause of Friday’s fire at ABC Day Care isn’t known, but investigators concluded that the fire didn’t start inside the building.

Parents arriving at the day care center on Friday, June 5th, 2009, seeing it engulfed in flames and knowing there was no way to get the children out. The building had only two doors, one of which was padlocked shut and windows were too high for the children to reach.

Parents took charge and rammed their vehicles into the building to try to free the trapped children.

“When we went out and ran towards the nursery, teachers already had many children outside, those who could walk properly,” stated 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.”

Parents stated that “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.

Little Herman Vasquez died after surgery, he wasn’t able to survive the fire.

“As of Sunday afternoon, June 7th, 2009, twenty six children remained hospitalized, 12 of them in critical condition,” Sonoran stated. Another 10 children had been transported to other hospitals: eight to Guadalajara, one to Ciudad, Obregon, and two to the Shriners hospital in  Sacramento, California, U.S.A.

A team of 29 medical experts in Hermosillo are deciding if any more children should be moved to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Sacramento, California, U.S.A., or elsewhere for specialized care..

Mexico:Parents Rammed Their Cars Into Burning Day Care That Took 41 Lives and “in addition, six adults were injured. Without a doubt this is the worst disaster we’ve had,” Sonora spokesman Daniel Duran stated.

Most of the children died from smoke inhalation and not burns. But the fire was serious enough for the roof to collapse.

“At the time of the fire, 142 children were inside the ABC Day Care. The day care is for children ages 2 to 4. But it is confirmed that there were children younger among the victims. All the children at the center had been accounted for by Saturday evening,” Bours stated.

In the U.S., a severely burned 3 year old girl arrived Saturday at the Sacramento hospital, where pediatric burn treatment is a specialty. She was reported 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 stated that the hospital normally can save just over fifty percent of the children with burns that severe.

BBAC sends their thoughts and prayers to the burned children, their families and friends. I can not think of anything as hurtful then burns. Our hearts go out to the children and all involved.

For the full story of “Mexico:Parents Rammed Their Cars Into Burning Day Care That Took 41 Lives,” go to CNN News.