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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Health & Science

Black smoke chokes Pakistan maternity ward as hospital fire kills 14 infants

From The Punch · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • A fire at a maternity ward in Pakistan's capital killed 14 infants, authorities said.
  • A faulty air conditioner is blamed for the blaze that erupted at the Mother and Child Health Ward.
  • Witnesses described chaotic scenes, with locked doors and delayed rescue efforts.

Fourteen infants died in a fire that broke out at a maternity ward in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday. Authorities are blaming a faulty air conditioner for the blaze that erupted at the Mother and Child Health Ward of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital.

My wife was in the ward. They took everyone out. We were sitting on the road waiting for help.

— Khurram MehmoodA father described the chaotic scene after the fire erupted and his experience waiting for help.

The dawn fire started on the third floor of the hospital's premier public facility. Witnesses recounted harrowing scenes of intense smoke and broken glass. They also described a slow response from emergency services and alleged that guards prevented people from leaving the ward.

Khurram Mehmood, 40, told AFP that he lost his three-day-old daughter in the fire. "My wife was in the ward. They took everyone out. We were sitting on the road waiting for help," he said. Another woman, Jaweria, who said she lost her infant, stated that the door to the neonatal intensive care unit was locked. "Why did the doctors leave the children there?"

I do not believe this. Give me my child back… Why did the doctors leave the children there?

— JaweriaA woman who lost her infant expressed her disbelief and anguish.

"The fire spread very quickly. There were babies as young as one day old," said witness Abdul Ghafoor, who attempted to enter the hospital to save patients but could not reach the maternity ward due to thick black smoke. He added that rescue teams arrived nearly two hours after the fire began.

The fire spread very quickly. There were babies as young as one day old.

— Abdul GhafoorA witness described the rapid spread of the fire and the age of the infants affected.

Sohail Ashraf, the Islamabad chief commissioner, confirmed that the emergency call was made just before 7 a.m. local time, and rescue and police teams arrived "immediately" to control the fire. However, another witness claimed hospital security guards initially prevented people from leaving, forcing them to break down doors and windows for escape and rescue.

There was thick black smoke inside, and patients were trapped… Rescue teams arrived after almost two hours (since the fire started).

— Abdul GhafoorA witness recounted the conditions inside the hospital and the delay in rescue efforts.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Punch. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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