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As the day care swiftly filled with smoke, caretakers, neighbors and parents fought to evacuate 142 children — many of them babies and toddlers — through a single working exit until rescue crews arrived.

No fire alarm or sprinkler system had gone off, and one mother said a second door to the day care was bolted shut and nobody could find the key.

Forty children were killed in the devastating fire, which raised doubts about safety standards at more than 1,500 centers where Mexico’s government provides low-cost care for at least 200,000 children.

President Felipe Calderon, who visited some of the 33 children hospitalized on Saturday night, pledged to launch a thorough investigation into the cause of a tragedy that has stunned Mexico.

Firefighters, parents and neighbors who rushed to help rescue the children said there was only one working exit — the front door — and that no fire alarm or sprinkler system went off. Several desperate civilians broke huge holes into the outer walls, including one man who rammed his pickup truck against the day care three times.