Seven Sonora state officials have been charged with negligent homicide leading to the Hermosillo day-care center fire that killed 47 children earlier this month. All posted bail later this week.
The Sonora state government Finance Department owned and operated a warehouse next to the day-care center. Investigators believe the fire may have been caused by overheating or a short circuit in the warehouse air-conditioning system and later spread to the nursery when a wall collapsed. There were no fire extinguishers or alarms in the warehouse, northern Sonora State Attorney General Abel Murrieta told a news conference on Monday.
“(Those arrested) are employees and officials with the Finance Department who have a direct responsibility for the warehouse where the fire started,” explained Murrieta.
The verdict follows three consecutive weekends of protests by Hermosillo residents and parents of the deceased. They are dismayed by the lack of fire regulations in the school and demanding a full government investigation. It appears there have still been no arrests in connection with the nursery’s lack of evacuation measures.
According to the New York Times, federal authorities ordered the owners of the ABC nursery to widen and add emergency exits in 2005. The day-care center subsequently passed inspections and three months later had its contract with the government renewed, despite the fact the improvements had not been made.
Just ten days before the fire, a federal government inspector gave the nursery a clean bill of health for safety regulations.
Nursery owners were said to have earned 200 dollars from the IMSS for every child that attended the private center.
The owners of the nursery are wives of top state officials, further fuelling the anger of parents and local residents. The officials have since resigned from their posts to enable an open investigation.
In harrowing reports, firefighters and neighbors are said to have attempted to break down the nursery’s walls to save children trapped in the building, but were unable to prevent 30 dying on the day.
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