A fire ripped through the neonatal unit of a hospital in northern India, killing 10 newborns and injuring 17, the authorities said.
Emergency responders rescued 38 newborns from the ward, which housed 49 infants at the time of the incident, said Uttar Pradesh state’s Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak on Saturday.
The fire broke out at 10:30 pm (17:00 GMT) on Friday at the Maharani Lakshmibai Medical College in Jhansi, about 450km (280 miles) south of the national capital, New Delhi.
“Seventeen of the injured are receiving treatment in different wings and some private hospitals,” Pathak told reporters in Jhansi.
The newborns died from burns and suffocation. Seven of the dead infants have been identified, while efforts were on to identify the remaining three, Pathak said.
The cause of the fire was being investigated, but police said it was most likely caused by a faulty oxygen concentrator.
Footage from the scene showed charred beds and walls inside the ward as anguished families waited outside.
The rescued babies, all only days old, were laid side by side on a bed elsewhere in the hospital as staff hooked them up to intravenous drips.
When the firefighters arrived, the ward was engulfed in flames and plumes of smoke. Rescuers had to break through windows to reach the babies.
The incident has raised questions over safety measures at the facility.
While there were fire alarms in the intensive care unit, parents and witnesses said they did not activate during the blaze, with hospital staff acting only after they saw the smoke and fire.
“If the safety alarm had worked, we could have acted sooner and saved more lives,” Naresh Kumar, a parent who lost his baby, told The Associated Press news agency.
Akhtar Hussain, whose son was rescued and was being treated in an adjacent ward, said the tragedy could have been prevented if the hospital had better safety protocols.
One infant remains missing, a government official, who asked not to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to media, told the Reuters news agency.
Pathak said a safety audit of the hospital was carried out in February, followed by a fire drill three months later.
“If any lapses are found, strict action will be taken against those responsible and no one will be spared,” he said.
The Indian Express newspaper reported that a nurse, identified only as Meghna, suffered burn injuries to her leg after attempting to save the newborns and extinguish the flames.
District official Avinash Kumar told The Hindustan Times newspaper that the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit in the unit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the deaths “heart-wrenching” in a post on social media.
“My deepest condolences to those who lost their innocent children in this,” Modi wrote. “I pray to God to give them the strength to bear this immense loss.”
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced compensation equivalent to $5,900 to each bereaved family.
Building fires are common in India due to shoddy construction and a routine disregard for safety regulations. Poor maintenance and lack of proper firefighting equipment also lead to deaths.
Six months back, a similar blaze at a children’s hospital in New Delhi killed seven newborns.
Last month, a huge explosion involving fireworks left dozens of people injured in the state of Kerala.
