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A gas explosion ripped through a children's hospital in Mexico City, killing at least two people and injuring dozens, including 22 children, officials said.
Rescuers combed through the rubble of the Maternity and Children's Hospital in the Cuajimalpa borough on Thursday, to look for people who were trapped following the blast, said civil protection chief Fausto Lugo.
City officials have revised the death toll from seven to two people, with five others "gravely injured."
Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera told MVS Radio that the area was evacuated "for safety because a lot of the people are babies in the crib area."
Television images showed people with bloodied faces being carried to ambulances.
Around 40 percent of the hospital has collapsed, according to Al Jazeera's Adam Raney, reporting from Mexico.
Raney said that casualties could go up, adding that rescuers were facing a shortage of ambulance trucks.
The blast happened when a gas tanker truck blew up outside the building in the morning, officials said. Mancera said the explosion took place when workers were unable to control a hosepipe leak.
The mayor said at least 32 adults and 22 children were injured, though none were in serious condition. Most were hit by shattered glass.
Lugo said 37 people were transferred to other hospitals.
Mexico has been hit by other gas explosion tragedies in recent years.
In February 2013, 37 people died in the headquarters of the state energy firm Pemex in Mexico City following a gas build-up in the skyscraper's basement. In May 2013, 25 people died following a gas tanker accident in Mexico City.
Last year, three people died in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas when a gas leak caused an explosion in a shopping center.
...culled from Aljazeera
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