A fire at the neonatal unit of an Indian hospital killed 10 newborns, authorities said yesterday, with another 16 clinging to life after a blaze blamed on a faulty oxygen machine.
The fire, which broke out at about 10:30pm on Friday night at the Maharani Lakshmibai Medical College in Jhansi, spread quickly through the ward, where 55 infants were being treated.
Forty-five babies were rescued and are receiving medical care, local official Bimal Kumar Dubey said.
Photo: Reuters
Footage from the scene showed charred beds and walls inside the ward as a crowd of anguished families waited outside.
“My child has gone forever,” one mother wailed as she clutched her head in grief.
Babies rescued from the fire, all only days old, were laid side by side on a bed elsewhere in the hospital as hospital staff hooked up their arms to intravenous drips.
“Ten infants have sadly died,” Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak told reporters. “Seven bodies have been identified. Three bodies haven’t been identified as yet.”
Another 16 infants who were rescued were undergoing medical treatment, police superintendent Gyanendra Kumar Singh said.
The fire likely started in a piece of machinery used to enrich the level of oxygen in the atmosphere, he said.
“All children rescued are safe and getting medical attention,” Singh said. “The fire was most likely due to a fire in an oxygen concentrator.”
Pathak, who visited the hospital and met with families, pledged government support for the victims’ families and promised a thorough investigation.
“The cause of the fire will be probed,” he said. “If any lapses are found, strict action will be taken against those responsible and no one will be spared.”
A safety audit of the hospital was carried out in February followed by a fire drill three months later, he said.
When the firefighters arrived, the ward was engulfed in flames and plumes of smoke. Rescuers had to break through windows to reach the newborn babies.
Eyewitnesses said the rescue operation began about 30 minutes after the fire erupted, delaying evacuation efforts.
The accident has raised questions over the hospital’s safety measures. While fire alarms had been installed in the intensive care unit, parents and witnesses said they did not activate during the blaze. Hospital staff acted only after they saw signs of smoke and fire.
“If the safety alarm had worked, we could have acted sooner and saved more lives,” said Naresh Kumar, a parent who lost his baby.
Akhtar Hussain, whose son was rescued and is receiving treatment in an adjacent ward, agreed that the tragedy could have been prevented if the hospital had better safety protocols.
Friday’s fire comes six months after a similar blaze at a children’s hospital in New Delhi that killed six newborns. Authorities said that hospital was not properly licensed and lacked proper fire exits, and police arrested a doctor and the facility’s owner in the aftermath.
The May blaze occurred just hours after least 27 people were killed, including several children, when a fire broke out at a packed amusement park arcade in another part of the country.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
‘MOBILIZED’: While protesters countered ICE agents, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard to ‘support the rights of Minnesotans’ to assemble Hundreds of counterprotesters drowned out a far-right activist’s attempt to hold a small rally in support of US President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops were mobilized and ready to assist law enforcement, although not yet deployed to city streets. There have been protests every day since the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized an anti-Islam, anti-Somali and pro-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
RSS