A Mexican state governor promised today to find out how 43 small children died in a fire in a day-care centre located dangerously close to a car warehouse, petrol station and tire workshop.
"We are going to get to the bottom of this. It's our responsibility. The 43 children who died deserve it," Sonora state governor Eduardo Bours told Televisa network.
The fire on Friday apparently started at a car warehouse next to the ABC day-care center and spread quickly, engulfing toddlers and infants in smoke as desperate employees and parents tried to rescue them.
Bours said the facility in the city of Hermosillo appeared to have all the safety permits necessary but should not have been located so close to industrial buildings.
"In no way was it where it should have been," he said.
The joint owners of the day-care center include several local politicians and a distant relative of Mexico's first lady, Margarita Zavala, Televisa said.
The death toll from the fire rose to 43 today after two injured children died in a hospital. Around 10 others are in serious condition.
Some severely burned children have been flown to specialist hospitals, including the Shriners children's hospital in Sacramento, California.