At least ten children were killed and 16 were injured after a fire broke out in the children’s ward of a medical college in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi district on Friday night, PTI reported.
The fire broke out around 10 pm on Friday in the neonatal intensive care unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.
An electrical short circuit was the cause of the blaze, the college’s Chief Medical Superintendent Sachin Mahor said, according to ANI.
The official said there were 49 babies in the neonatal intensive care unit when the fire started. Out of them, 39 were rescued and ten died.
“As of now, all the rescued babies are stable,” Mahor said. “The bodies of 3 babies are yet to be identified, the process of identifying them is underway so that the bodies can be handed over to their parents.”
Santoshi, the mother of a ten-day-old baby who had been admitted to the unit, was among those who could not find her children on Saturday morning.
“I don’t know where my child is,” she told ANI. “When the fire broke out, I couldn’t go inside to rescue my baby. How could I? When no one was able to get inside, how could anyone hand me my baby. Everyone was running around in panic.”
Chief Minister Adityanath directed the payment of Rs 5 lakh each to the parents of the infants who died in the fire, and Rs 50,000 each for those injured. He also directed the divisional commissioner and deputy inspector general to submit a report on the matter within 12 hours.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh to the kin of those who died from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. Those injured will be given Rs 50,000 each.
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