Mexico hospital blast leaves at least 2 dead, dozens hurt

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Rescue workers comb through the rubble of a Mexico City maternity and children’s hospital after a gas tank truck explosion on Jan. 29. (Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

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Rescue workers comb through the rubble of a children’s hospital after a gas truck exploded on the outskirts of Mexico City. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)

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Rescuers work amid the wreckage caused by an explosion in a hospital in Cuajimalpa, Mexico City. (DAVID DEOLARTE / AFP/Getty Images)

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Police climb over a wall as they work to cordon off an area where rescue workers combed through the rubble of a children’s hospital after a gas truck exploded. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)

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Rescuers work amid the wreckage caused by an explosion in a hospital in Cuajimalpa, Mexico City. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP/Getty Images)

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Relatives and friends wait outside the police cordon where a gas truck exploded at a maternity and children’s hospital in Cuajimalpa, a Mexico City borough. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)

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Rescuers work amid the wreckage caused by a Jan. 29 explosion at a hospital in Mexico City. (David Deolarte / AFP/Getty Images)

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Authorities and rescue workers comb through the rubble after a gas explosion ripped through a maternity and children’s hospital in Mexico City on Jan. 29. (David Deolarte / AFP/Getty Images)

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Emergency workers use a dog to hunt through the rubble after an explosion in a hospital in Mexico City on Jan. 29. (David Deolarte / AFP/Getty Images)

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Rescue crews and volunteers work amid the wreckage caused by a Jan. 29 gas explosion at a hospital in Mexico City. (David Deolarte / AFP/Getty Images)

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A woman lies on a stretcher after suffering injuries in an explosion at a hospital in Mexico City on Jan. 29. (David Deolarte / AFP/Getty Images)

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Emergency workers and volunteers take part in rescue efforts after a gas explosion ripped through a hospital in Mexico City on Jan. 29. (David Deolarte / AFP/Getty Images)

By Tracy Wilkinson, Cecilia Sanchez

Jan. 29, 2015 3:32 PM PT

Reporting from Mexico City —

An explosion early Thursday destroyed most of a maternity and children’s hospital in Mexico City, killing at least two people and trapping and injuring dozens.

Smoke, flames and dust billowed into the sky after the blast. Rescuers pulled from the ruins doctors, nurses, pregnant women and newborns during a frantic operation to find survivors and save the injured.

More than 60 children and adults were injured, mostly by flying glass and the flames, according to firefighters, Red Cross personnel, police and other workers who flooded the scene. The dead were identified only as a woman and a minor.

Officials earlier gave a larger death toll, but it was revised downward, although 22 of the injured were in critical condition and other peopele may still be trapped, Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said.

Racked by uncontrollable sobs, Maria Angeles Bautista was among scores of people who crowded the scene frantically seeking information on relatives among the patients or hospital employees.

“My niece gave birth on Monday but the baby had a low weight, so they were still hospitalized,” said Bautista, 54. “We don’t know anything about the two. We’ve gone to all the hospitals, but there is no information. We are desperate.”

A man who did not give his name also broke into tears as he talked about his wife, who had given birth the day before. He believed a lot of the destruction was in the area of the cribs and incubators.

Felipe Rojas, a 50-year-old taxi driver, rushed to the site after hearing the blast, described by many as a thunderous roar. His daughter works as a nurse in the hospital.

“Thank God, I could talk to her; she’s fine but doesn’t know about her fellow nurses,” Rojas said. “She was crying a lot for the babies.”

The explosion happened about 7 a.m., before visiting hours and a shift change to the busier daytime schedule. That, combined with the hospital being relatively small, probably averted a higher casualty toll.

There were conflicting reports of what had caused the explosion, but the investigation was focusing on a possible leak of gas that was being pumped by hose from a delivery truck to the hospital’s kitchen. The blast was concentrated around the kitchen and the emergency-area arrival bays. Neighbors reported a strong smell of gas before the blast.

Nearly 70% of the government-run, two-story hospital, which caters primarily to middle- and lower-income patients, collapsed or was heavily damaged, Mancera said.

The scene at the hospital was chaotic, with streets clogged by traffic, firetrucks and ambulances, as helicopters ferried away the injured. Rescuers, some with sniffer dogs, emerged from the ruins covered with dust and ash. Nearby homes and cars were damaged.

Milenio Television reported that a pregnant woman who was removed from the ruins gave birth in the ambulance taking her to another facility.

The hospital is located in the Cuajimalpa district, on the far western edge of the sprawling capital.

Mancera, the mayor, said three people with the gas company supplying the hospital were detained for questioning about possible negligence.

Sanchez is a special correspondent.

Follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter for news out of Mexico