Authorities in Pakistan have disclosed that no fewer than 14 babies have tragically died following a devastating fire outbreak which happened in a hospital.
The fire, said to have occurred due to a faulty air conditioner, spread rapidly around the premises, causing a thick black smoke in the third floor maternity ward where the infants were trapped and later died due to a slow response by emergency rescuers, as said by the Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, who mentioned that only the infants were dead casualties in the mishap.
The incident which happened at the facility situated in Islamabad on Wednesday, led to a man, Khurram Mehmood, disclosing that his three-day-old daughter was among the casualties, adding that it took hours before the rescuers arrived at the scene.
A woman, simply identified as Jaweria, who also lost her child mentioned that the neonatal intensive care unit was locked during the mishap, and added, ”I do not believe this. Give me my child back. Why didn the doctors leave the children here?, she queried.
”There were babies as young as one day old,” an eyewitness Abdul Ghafoor, said and continued, ”I went into the hospital to save patients but could not reach the maternity ward.
Interior Minister, Mohsin Naqvi, expressed deep sorrow over the occurrence, stating that circumstances which led to the incident should be thoroughly reviewed, and those responsible should be held for strictest sanctions.
Fires in large buildings are frequent in Pakistan, often due to poor safety laws and building codes, as well as lax enforcement.
In January, more than 65 people were killed in a shopping centre fire in the port city of Karachi. In 2023 incident, at least 11 people were killed in another shopping mall fire outbreak, while at least 16 workers died after a factory fire in the same city in 2021.
In 2012, at least 250 labourers died at a garment factory in Karachi.