Islamabad, Aug 26. (dpa/GNA) – Fourteen newborn babies have died in a fire at a maternity ward that has left Pakistan in shock.
Only one of the newborns in the ward at the hospital in the capital Islamabad could be saved from the flames, rescue services said.
The maternity ward is part of the gynaecology department at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), a state-run hospital. Deputy Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry told reporters at the hospital entrance that the cause of the fire had not yet been definitively established. Initial findings suggested a malfunction in an air-conditioning unit, authorities have said.
Television footage showed heavy smoke and firefighters working at the scene. The fire had since been brought under control.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, set up a commission to establish why the ward was locked at the time of the fire, and why there were no doctors on site.
He previously expressed his grief and offered his condolences to the families. Opposition politicians and members of the governing parties expressed their dismay and shock at the latest fire disaster.
Senator Sherry Rehman from the Pakistan People’s Party, wrote on X that there had been “gross negligence across the board.” Firefighters at the scene also told dpa of problems during the rescue operation. As a main entrance had been blocked, they had to break open window grilles from the outside to gain access.
A new father, Bahadur Khan, was mourning his two daughters outside the facility. He told dpa that the twins were only three days old. He said at 4 am, everything had still been fine when he visited the two of them on the ward.
Shortly afterwards, chaos broke out. There was smoke in the corridors, he says, fighting back tears. A few hours after the inferno, his family were handed a coffin containing his daughters’ burnt bodies and buried them straight away.
“It is God’s will that my daughters died. But they could have been saved if there had been better management,” Khan said.
GNA