Maharashtra: 10 Infants Die After Fire Breaks Out At Newborn Care Unit In Bhandara Hospital

In a shocking incident, ten newborn babies succumbed to fire injuries in the Maharashtra hospital in the wee hours on Saturday. According to doctors, a fire broke out in the Special Newborn Care Unit of the Bhandara district hospital at around 2 am.

Maharashtra government has ordered a thorough probe in the investigation of the death of ten infants during the early hours on Saturday and announced Rs 5 lakh would be paid to family members of each of the deceased infant.

"The preliminary information available indicated that three infants died from burn injuries in the Bhandara district civil hospital while suffocation caused by smoke is the cause of the death of seven other infants", Health minister RajeshTope said in a video message on Saturday.

At the time of incident, seventeen newborns were admitted in the affected Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, out of which seven were rescued by the fire personnel while the other ten died due to suffocation.

"The medical staff on duty opened the windows and doors of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit wards and shifted the infants to adjoining wards. However, they could not save the 10 infants," the health minister said.

"Persons responsible for this incident will not be spared. A detailed inquiry is ordered. We will try to avoid such incidents in future by learning from this tragedy," he added.

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Another doctor said a nurse first noticed smoke coming out from the neonatal section of the hospital and alerted doctors and other staff who reached there in five minutes.

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The cause of the fire in the four storeyed building is not known but could have been the result of an electrical short circuit, said officials

(With PTI Inputs)