India hospital blaze kills four newborn babies

Officials in India ordered a high-level probe into a fire that broke out late on Monday in a neonatal care unit at Kamala Nehru Children's Hospital in the central city of Bhopal.

Footage on news channels showed angry parents protesting at the premises alleging that — instead of saving the children — the hospital staff had fled.

News reports cited a short-circuit as a leading theory about the cause of the fire.

Chief Minister for the state of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, tweeted that there would be an investigation, alleging there had been "criminal negligence."

"Whoever is guilty in this will not be spared," he added.

In a press conference, the chief minister said that both private and government hospitals would now undergo a fire safety audit.

"The untimely departure of children from the world is an unbearable pain," said Chauhan.

Regional medical education minister Vishvas Kailash Sarang said there were 40 children in total in the unit, and that 36 had been rescued.

"My deepest sympathies are with the bereaved family in these difficult moments of grief. May God give them strength and place the souls of the departed at his feet," Sarang tweeted.

Sarang said the families of the babies would receive 400,000 rupees (about €4,700 or $5,400) in compensation.

Fatal fires are not uncommon in India, where a lack of firefighting equipment and safety measures, as well as poor maintenance, are often cited as a reason for fires with high fatality rates.

On Saturday, 11 patients died after a fire broke out in the COVID unit of a hospital in the neighboring state of Maharashtra.
rc/rt (dpa, AP)