RESCUERS dug through the night while investigators searched for answers after an explosion rocked the headquarters of Mexican state-run oil giant Pemex, killing 32 people.
Another 121 people were injured in the explosion on Thursday, which sent shocked employees pouring out of the 54-floor Mexico City skyscraper beneath a pillar of black smoke, some carrying wounded people out on office chairs.
Hundreds of firefighters, police and soldiers toiled through the night after the blast ripped through an annexe of the tower, but the cause of the blast remained a mystery while officials cautioned against any speculation.
"A good part of the rubble was removed and we hope to be able to finish the removal in the morning," a city civil protection spokesman told AFP, adding that the search focused on the basement.
Survivors described an earthquake-like rumble that shook the floor and shattered windows after the explosion heavily damaged the annexe's ground floor and mezzanine. Witnesses said a roof connecting the annexe to the tower collapsed.
At least six ambulances were at the scene in case any people were found, while police partially reopened traffic on the heavily-travelled avenue in front of the complex. Officials said 52 people remained hospitalised.
"We were waiting all night to assist in a major emergency that did not materialise because, fortunately, it appears that almost everybody was taken out," a military nurse who refused to give her name told AFP.
Floodlights shone on the rubble and two cranes were brought to help rescuers in hard hats and surgical masks look for survivors. One survivor was found almost six hours after the blast, which took place around 3.40pm (0840 AEDT Friday).
"At the moment, we have confirmed 32 dead," Pemex director general Emilio Lozoya Austin told a news conference.
The dead included 20 women and 12 men.
Lozoya Austin said the investigation into Thursday's blast was ongoing and that "we won't speculate, we won't get ahead of ourselves".
The company continues operating normally, he added.
"I don't have any conclusive report on the cause, which is why I insist against any speculation," President Enrique Pena Nieto told reporters after visiting the site late on Thursday.
A spokesman for the civil protection agency said there was an apparent "accumulation of gas" in an electrical supply room, but the exact cause of the blast has yet to be confirmed.
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