Mexico City: A gas truck explosion demolished a maternity hospital in Mexico City on Thursday, killing at least two people and injuring dozens while mothers grabbed their babies as the ceiling collapsed.

Hundreds of rescuers, some with dogs, scoured the rubble of the Maternity and Children’s Hospital in the Cuajimalpa borough after the huge blast, though officials were hopeful that nobody remained trapped.

“I remember the cries of the babies under the rubble and the screams of my colleagues,” said Ivonne Ortega, a nurse who was injured as she helped evacuate the newborns.

Mexico City Health Secretary Armando Ahued said a woman and a baby were killed. He said another 66 people were injured, including 21 newborns. Seven of the babies are in serious condition.

Around three-quarters of the building collapsed after the blast, which took place around 7:00 am after workers were unable to control a pipe leak, Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said.

The truck’s three operators were detained, and two of them were hospitalized, Mancera said. Their employer was identified as Gas Express Nieto, which as serviced 31 city hospitals since 2007.

Mancera said a bigger tragedy was avoided because fewer people were in the hospital at that time and they had around 10 minutes to evacuate before the gas leak turned into an explosion.

Around 100 people were in the building, officials said.

By midday, nobody was reported missing but Mancera said the search would continue until authorities are “100 percent” certain no one is trapped under the rubble.

Officials gave conflicting death tolls during the day, at one point reporting four babies dead, before retracting.

-nst