LAHORE: At least six infants were killed while few others sustained burn injuries after fire erupted in the nursery of the Services Hospital, Lahore on Thursday in what appeared to be a short circuit, reported Express News.
Express News correspondent Umair Ali reported that some infants had lost consciousness after inhaling smoke.
Rescue officials reached the hospital and cleared the hall, while the infants were shifted to an emergency ward. At least 25 infants were present in the nursery at the time of the incident.
Officials are trying to investigate the cause of the fire.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and called for an investigation into the incident.
A hospital spokesperson said that while fire extinguishers were present in the hospital, the people were not able to use them.
Earlier, eyewitnesses had claimed that hospital authorities ran from the nursery as a fire erupted, abandoning the infants inside, but the hospital spokesperson said that the authorities ran to save their own lives.
An eyewitness told Express News that the fire erupted when an AC wire sparked.
COMMENTS (15)
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The staff's first reaction - both by INSTINCT and TRAINING - should have been to evacuate the babies, raise the alarm, call for help etc.
What kind of coward abandons babies in a fire? They should be charged, along with the administration, for criminal negligence - and whatever other charges apply. It won't help those families but at least these ''hospitals'' will think twice before neglecting basic safety inspections, training, readiness etc.
Very heartbreaking... This news is so painful to read. Those little precious lives were not important enough for the hospital staff to save!!!!! Nobody even tried, thats another horrible part of the story. Please Allah have a mercy on this nation. We can't take any more...already so many innocent lives are being taken in this country. @ ET Make a correction please, those were not infants, they were newborns.The infant term is used for one month or older.
Inna lliah e waina elayeh rajeeon.
Already there is shortage of nurseries due to the increasing rate of premature child births, this will increase the already shortage problem.
May Allah give the patience to the parents of the children who died in this accident. Ameen
i m a new dad, i become restless when my son cries for anything. i m sure everybody loves his kids like this. cant imagine grief of parents of these angels. when will we get decent safety standards in our country? when will our kids stop dying due to our ignorance on roads and hospitals. May Allah give patience to parents of the deceased angel.
@Maria: My heart goes out for the families who have lost the lives of their young babies. May ALLAH Give them the Patience and Solace! I was just mentioning the political drama our Chief Minister is playing.
@Adnan: Why are you trying to play politics when little babies have died due to an electrical mishap? We all know the standard of poor electricity connections in Pakistan and the developing world in general. This needs to be addressed but it is unfair to point fingers at politicians for general issues affecting developing countries.
People are too busy supporting the mullah lies and blaming the US for all their woes than to focus on their domestic problems. I challenge that not a single religious party or mullah will come out and speak against this issue or try to resolve the problem.
Very very unfortunate incident, such incidents will continue to reoccur until and unless the Federal or Provincial governments implement stringent fire codes.
One of the reasons for so many health related incidents in Punjab is that the CM is right now holding multiple ministries and health ministry is one of these.
I have no words to describe my sorrow and anger for such a horrible incident.. May Allah grant patience to all those parents..
My heart goes out to the families affected by this tragedy. A thorough investigation should be launched why the fire started and no fire extinguishers were used. Hospital and responsible parties for hospital safety should be held liable for this great loss. May Allah give courage to affected people to bear this unrecoverable loss.
Oh my. That is soo traumatizing. My heart goes out to the parents of the infants killed or injured in this unfortunate accident. Cannot even begin to think of their pain. May Allah grant them sabr and compensate them highly for this unimaginable loss.
Why such incidents happen to general people only ? Why short circuit DOES NOT happen when there is some politician admitted in hospital ?
"Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took noticee of the incident and called for an investigation into the incident" and then he got back to his normal business i.e., to protest against the federal government.