The number of children who died in the tragic fire at a public day care centre in north-western Mexico continued to rise and reached 43, the authorities said Monday, according to dpa. The government of the Mexican state of Sonora said seven minors were released from hospital in the past few hours and 20 people - 16 children and four adults - remain in local hospitals. There were however more serious cases, noted Sonora Health Minister Raymundo Lopez Vucovich. Ten children were taken to hospitals in the Mexican city of Guadalajara and three others were transferred to the US city of Sacramento for treatment. The fire at the ABC day care centre in the city of Hermosillo, about 1,900 kilometres northwest of Mexico City, broke out around 3 pm (2200 GMT) Friday. About 8,000 people attended Sunday a funeral mass in the memory of the dead children. The religious service was officiated by 20 priests. The tragedy was believed to have been triggered by an electrical cross-circuit at either a neighbouring tyre dealership or a warehouse and leapt quickly to the day care centre with its 140 children between the ages of 3 months and 4 years. Authorities were investigating what sparked the fire, which spread quickly through the day care centre's foam insulation. The insulation started to melt and fell on the children like "rain of fire," in the words of one fireman. The dead children lost their lives through either suffocation or severe burns. According to media reports based on Finance Ministry documents, the facility - which had just passed an inspection in late May - was owned by people with political connections.
