Pakistan Hospital Fire Kills 14 Newborns in Islamabad
At least 14 newborn babies died on Wednesday after a fire swept through a maternity ward at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad, according to hospital and government officials. The tragedy unfolded on the third floor of the mother and child unit at the major state-run facility, leaving grieving families to search through charred wreckage and identify their infants by hospital wristbands or age.
Fire Breaks Out on Hospital Ward
The blaze erupted on Wednesday morning inside a third-floor ward of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, according to a hospital spokesperson cited by the BBC. A hospital spokesman told the BBC that an air conditioning unit caught fire, quickly engulfing the space. Fourteen of the fifteen babies present in the ward at the time perished, the spokesperson confirmed.
Pakistan’s Health Minister Mustafa Kamal told Geo News that the infants inside the ward were either resting in incubators or connected to oxygen equipment. While oxygen is not flammable on its own, it accelerates combustion, causing surrounding materials to burn with greater heat and velocity.
Pakistan’s Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry stated that seven other babies, ten mothers, and two men were successfully rescued from other sections of the facility.
Family Accounts and Emergency Response
Eyewitnesses described chaotic scenes outside the hospital, marked by heavy smoke and shattered glass, with several family members alleging that emergency responders took too long to reach the scene. Khurram Mehmood told the AFP news agency that his three-day-old daughter died in the fire and claimed that help was severely delayed, stating they were left waiting on the road.
Another witness, Abdul Ghafoor, told AFP that the flames spread rapidly through the building. He attempted to enter the facility to aid patients but was blocked by thick black smoke inside the maternity ward, adding that rescue teams arrived after nearly two hours.
Minister Talal Chaudhry told the BBC that grieving relatives identified their deceased infants using wristbands or based on their ages, noting that some of the victims were only three hours old.
Official Inquiries and Suspensions
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered an immediate, high-level inquiry into the disaster and chaired an emergency meeting on the hospital fire, according to the information ministry. The ministry reported that the prime minister expressed deep anger over the incident.
As part of the government response, Prime Minister Sharif suspended Federal Secretary of Health Aslam Ghauri, removing him from his post.
A high-level committee convened by the government continues its investigation into the exact cause of the fire and the operational response of emergency services.