A fire at a hospital in Maharashtra in India on early Saturday killed at least ten newborn babies, NDTV reports.
Seventeen newborns were admitted at the Special Newborn Care Unit of the four-storey hospital in Bhandara of Maharashtra.
Seven of them, who were admitted to the inborn ward of the unit, were rescued by the fire brigade officials, but the rest were in the outbound ward and they couldn't be rescued.
They are believed to have died due to suffocation.
In a tweet, PM Modi 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.’
All the infants were between a month and three months old, a doctor was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
‘Ten children died in a fire that broke out at the SNCU of Bhandara General Hospital at 2:00am on Saturday.
Seven were rescued from the unit, district civil surgeon Pramod Khandate said.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray spoke to health minister Rajesh Tope, and he also ordered a probe into the incident.
‘The chief minister has ordered a probe in the entire incident. He spoke to the district collector and police superintendent and asked them to probe the fire,’ his office said in a statement.
mj/
