10 newborns killed in India hospital fire

At least 10 children were killed in a fire that swept the children’s ward of a medical college hospital in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi district late last night, officials said.
District Magistrate Avinash Kumar told reporters that the fire broke out around 10:45pm in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College possibly due to an electrical short circuit.
The children who were in the outer part of the NICU were rescued, along with some of those who were in the interior part.
“Prima facie there is information of the death of 10 children,” he said.
Divisional Commissioner Jhansi Bimal Kumar Dubey, who reached the hospital around midnight, told reporters that there were about 30 children in the interior section of the NICU and most of them were rescued.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jhansi Sudha Singh today said another 16 children who suffered injuries in the episode were undergoing treatment. There were over 50 children admitted in the NICU when the incident took place.
A couple hailing from nearby Mahoba district grieved the demise of their newborn child. The mother told reporters that the child was born on November 13 at 8:00am.
“My child has been killed in the fire,” the inconsolable mother told reporters.