10 babies killed after fire rips through hospital neonatal unit
A fire that swept through a neonatal unit in India has killed 10 newborn babies and one baby is still missing.
The newborn babies died from the burns they suffered and from suffocation, a government official confirmed this morning.
The inferno started on Friday evening at the Maharani Laxmibai Medical College in the Jhansi district of the country.
Seven of the babies who died in the blaze have been named but authorities are still trying to identify the other three.
One of the newborn babies is still missing, hours after the blaze that tore through the unit.
This is according to a government minister who did not want to be named because he is not authorised to talk to the media.
The neonatal unit at the hospital housed 49 babies and another 38 had to be rescued.
State deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak said: ‘Seventeen of the injured are receiving treatment in different wings and some private hospitals.’
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken out following the blaze and described it as ‘heart-wrenching’.
Modi posted on X: ‘My deepest condolences to those who lost their innocent children in this.
‘I pray to God to give them the strength to bear this immense loss.’
An inquiry has been ordered into the incident and the cause of the fire is still not yet known.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.