ISLAMABAD: A fire erupted in a hospital maternity ward in Islamabad on Wednesday (Aug 26), killing 14 infants, Pakistan authorities said, blaming a faulty air conditioner for the blaze.
The dawn fire broke out on the third floor of the Mother and Child Health Ward at the public Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), the Islamabad district office said in a statement.
The statement gave a death toll of 14, who according to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif were all infants. He called for an investigation.
At the hospital, AFP saw a nurse call out the names of babies who had perished in the fire as families gathered outside.
Khurram Mehmood, 40, told AFP he lost his three-day-old daughter in the blaze and that rescuers took hours to arrive.
“I lost my daughter. She was only three days old,” he said.
“My wife was in the ward. They took everyone out. We were sitting on the road waiting for help.”
A mother with black residue from the smoke on her hands stood crying outside the hospital as she held her 10-day-old baby in her arms.
“People were screaming. There was black smoke. We ran for our lives. Thank god my baby is safe,” Shagufta Parveen told AFP.
An AFP reporter saw other families in tears and a man clear glass from two broken windows, as security guards stood at the entrance to the leading medical facility.
