MUMBAI: In an unfortunate incident, 10 newborn babies were found dead after a fire broke out at a hospital in Maharashtra in the wee hours of January 9.
According to reports, the incident occurred at around 2 AM.
Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi took to his Twitter handle and wrote, "Heart-wrenching tragedy in Bhandara, Maharashtra, where we have lost precious young lives. My thoughts are with all the bereaved families. I hope the injured recover as early as possible."
Reportedly, Seventeen babies were admitted at the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) of the four-storeyed hospital in Maharashtra's Bhandara district at the time of the incident.
While seven of them, who were admitted to the inborn ward of the unit, were rescued by the fire brigade officials and those in the outbound ward couldn't be rescued, died eventually due to suffocation.
A doctor of the hospital quoted as saying by news agency PTI. "Ten children died in a fire that broke out at the SNCU of Bhandara District General Hospital at 2 am today. Seven children were rescued from the unit," District civil surgeon Pramod Khandate said.
"Our staff extinguished the fire as soon as they could. The smoke led to the babies suffocating," the doctor added.
Preliminary investigation hints short circuit to have set off the blaze, however, the actual cause of the fire is yet to be confirmed.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray ordered a probe in the entire incident and spoke to the district collector and police superintendent to investigate the matter.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan also tweeted condolences.
Notably, the fire broke out around 12.30 am in the ICU ward located on the first floor of the four-storey Uday Shivanand Hospital in Anand Bungalow Chowk area, where around 31 patients were admitted.
"Out of the 11 coronavirus patients admitted to the ICU ward, five lost their lives in the fire", said Rajkot Police Commissioner.
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