Ten babies were killed in a maternity hospital in the Indian state of Maharashtra on Saturday morning when a fire hit a large hospital.
The team rescued seven of the newborn babies at Bhandara district hospital, but were beaten before they could reach another ten, said Pramod Khandate, a senior doctor.
Everyone who died was reported to be between a few days and three months old.
“The cause of the fire is not yet known, but our team extinguished the fire as soon as it could. The smoke made the babies suffocate, ”said Khandate.
Nurses on duty noticed a fire coming from the hospital’s neonatal unit and set off the alarm.
The fire brigade prevented the fire from spreading to other parts of the hospital and other patients were taken to safety.
“Heartbreaking tragedy in Bhandara, Maharashtra, where we lost precious young lives,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi called the deaths “extremely tragic”.
Authorities ordered an immediate investigation into the latest disaster to raise questions about safety in Indian hospitals. More than 90 people died in hell in a Calcutta hospital in 2011.
A fire at a hospital in Ahmedabad in August killed eight patients with coronavirus. Another five patients with Covid-19 died in a fire at a clinic in Rajkot in November.
The supreme court asked for a report on safety in coronavirus hospitals because of the incidents.