A fire at a nursery in a state-run hospital in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, killed at least 14 newborn babies on Aug. 26, according to officials.
Authorities received a fire alert shortly before 7 a.m. local time after an air-conditioning unit compressor exploded inside the nursery at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad’s Capital Development Authority said in an Aug. 26 post on X.
At least 15 infants were in the nursery when the blaze erupted, Pakistani outlet Dawn reported, citing hospital spokesperson Dr. Aneeza Jalil. She added that the remains of six of the babies had been returned to their parents, and that the others would be handed over to their next of kin soon.
Television footage showed rescue workers using ladders to reach the third-floor nursery through broken windows. Grieving parents and relatives gathered at the hospital, some weeping while others demanded answers about how the fire began and whether the nursery had adequate firefighting equipment.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the situation is an “irreparable tragedy” and ordered a detailed review of the causes of the incident, noting that “those responsible should be identified, and the strictest action should be taken.”
“My heart is saddened by this tragic incident,” he said in a post on X. “We share equally in the grief of the parents.”
Sharif suspended his health secretary over the incident, his office said, hours after he ordered the investigation.
Police were deployed at the hospital as grieving parents and relatives gathered.
Mohammad Sami said she gave birth three days earlier and her baby was receiving intensive care in the nursery when the fire erupted.
“I don’t know what to say or whom to blame,” she said. “I have lost my child.”
Pakistani Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhary, who visited the scene at the hospital, said that most of the babies who perished died from suffocation, Pakistan’s GEO TV reported.
He noted that the fire was caused by a short circuit, saying that a gas line and plastic equipment helped it spread rapidly.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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