9:15 p.m.Jan. 29, 2015
Rescue workers climb out of the wreckage of a maternity and children's hospital amid one of several temporary evacuations as firefighters monitor the leaking gas tanker that caused the explosion in Cuajimalpa on the outskirts of Mexico City, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. The explosion, which collapsed the majority of the building, occurred in the morning when a tanker truck was making a routine delivery of gas to the hospital kitchen and gas started to leak. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rescue workers haul a bent beam from the rubble as the search for survivors continues into the night amongst the rubble of a maternity and children's hospital after a gas truck exploded in Cuajimalpa on the outskirts of Mexico City, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. The explosion, which collapsed the majority of the building, occurred in the morning when a tanker truck was making a routine delivery of gas to the hospital kitchen and gas started to leak. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A paramedic holds the hands of a newborn as his colleague attends to the baby's mother, who was evacuated from the maternity and children's hospital in Cuajimalpa, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. The woman give birth to her baby in the ambulance after a powerful gas tank truck explosion shattered the maternity and children's hospital on the western edge of Mexico's capital, killing at least three adults and one baby and injuring dozens. (AP Photo)
Rescue workers stand behind rubble removed from the wreckage of a maternity and children's hospital after a gas truck exploded in Cuajimalpa on the outskirts of Mexico City, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. The explosion, which collapsed the majority of the building, occurred in the morning when a tanker truck was making a routine delivery of gas to the hospital kitchen and gas started to leak. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rescue workers move rubble as the search for survivors continues amid the wreckage of a children's hospital after a gas truck exploded in Cuajimalpa on the outskirts of Mexico City, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. The explosion, which collapsed the majority of the building, occurred in the morning when a tanker truck was making a routine delivery of gas to the hospital kitchen and gas started to leak. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rescue workers comb through the rubble of a children's hospital after a gas truck exploded, in Cuajimalpa on the outskirts of Mexico City, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. The powerful explosion shattered the hospital on the western edge of Mexico's capital, killing at least three adults and one baby and injuring dozens. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Inside the maternity hospital on the western edge of Mexico City, concern quickly turned to panic as the sour smell of propane seeped in and a vapor cloud grew at the emergency room's entrance. The crew of a gas tanker truck outside began yelling: "Call the firefighters! And tell people to get out!"
A mammoth explosion shattered the morning, collapsing most of the hospital and sending flames and smoke boiling into the sky Thursday morning.
Fatimas Parras, 16, was getting ready for school in her nearby home when the blast blew tiles off the roof. With her hair still wet, she ran outside where she encountered a boy of about 13 carrying an infant from the hospital.
"The baby was covered in dust and the boy was running. He started to scream 'Help! Help!'" Parras said. Neighbors who rushed to the scene found bleeding mothers carrying newborns out of the wreckage hospital while babies cried in the rubble.
The blast killed a weeks-old baby and a 25-year-old nurse at the scene and a second infant died hours later, Mexico City officials said. Eight more children and seven adults were reported in serious condition among the more than 70 people injured. Late Thursday, officials said no one remained beneath the rubble of the Maternity and Children's Hospital of Cuajimalpa.
Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said the gas truck driver and two other employees of the Express Nieto company were hospitalized and in custody. He said the company has provided gas to all the city's public hospitals since 2007.
Up to 80 percent of Mexicans use propane rather than natural gas delivered by mains, and highly explosive liquified propane is distributed to homes and businesses either by trucks like the one that exploded or in cylinders, said Margarita Palma of Amexgas, a trade association of Mexico's propane distributors.
The blast occurred at 7:05 a.m. when the truck was making a routine delivery of gas to the hospital kitchen and gas started to leak. Witnesses said the tanker workers struggled for 15 or 20 minutes to repair the leak while a large cloud of gas formed.
"The hose broke. The two gas workers tried to stop it, but they were very nervous. They yelled for people to get out," said Laura Diaz Pacheco, a laboratory technician.
"Everyone's initial reaction was to go inside, away from the gas," she added. "Maybe as many as 10 of us were able to get out ... The rest stayed inside."
Officials said 110 people were inside the 35-bed hospital when the truck blew up.
Anesthesiologist Agustin Herrera saw injured mothers walking out carrying babies. The worst hit parts of the hospital were the neonatology, reception and emergency reception units, he said.
Local resident Carlos Soria Rezendiz said homes next to the hospital had broken and cracked windows, and many neighbors ran to help evacuate victims.
After the explosion, "some of people ran and began to pull out people. They began to pull up debris and remove people who were screaming and waving only their hands," said Soria's cousin, Ariatna Resendiz.
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