A fire erupted in a hospital maternity ward in Islamabad yesterday killing 14 infants, Pakistan authorities said, blaming a faulty air-conditioner for the blaze.
The dawn fire broke out on the third floor of the Mother and Child Health Ward at the capital’s premier public hospital Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the Islamabad Office of the Deputy Commissioner said in a statement.
The statement gave a death toll of 14, who according to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif were all infants.
Photo: AFP
Nineteen people, including seven children, were rescued, Pakistani Deputy Minister of the Interior Talal Chaudhry said.
Witnesses described chaotic and harrowing scenes, including intense smoke and broken glass, a slow response from emergency services and guards reportedly preventing them from leaving the building.
Khurram Mehmood, 40, said he lost his three-day-old daughter in the blaze and that rescuers took hours to arrive.
“My wife was in the ward. They took everyone out. We were sitting on the road waiting for help,” he said.
The door to the neonatal intensive care unit was locked, said Jaweria, a woman who said she lost her infant in the blaze.
“I do not believe this. Give me my child back... Why did the doctors leave the children there?” she said.
Islamabad Chief Commissioner Sohail Ashraf said the emergency call was made just before 7am, and emergency responders reached the scene “immediately” and brought the fire under control.
Another witness, who did not give her name, said hospital security “were not letting them out and the guards were stopping them.”
“People had to break the door down and rescue teams had to break the windows to control the fire,” she added.
Sharif called for an investigation, saying that the “strictest possible action” should be taken against those found to be responsible.
He fired Pakistani Minister of Health Aslam Ghori, a statement from his office said.
Chaudhry told reporters outside the hospital that authorities would launch a probe, and that the bodies of the 14 babies had been handed over to their parents.
However, he denied that rescuers did not arrive quickly enough.
“What happened is sad, but there was no negligence when it came to the rescue operations,” he said, adding that teams had reached the hospital in six minutes.
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