At least 15 infants were killed after a fire broke out in the maternity ward of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), a state-run hospital in Islamabad, on Wednesday, according to local broadcaster
Geo TV, as cited by Reuters.
The fire erupted on the third floor of the Mother and Child Health Ward at the public hospital. According to the Islamabad district office, the emergency call was made shortly before 7 am (0200 GMT).
AFP, meanwhile, quoted an Islamabad district office statement and said that 14 children had died in the incident.
“A total of 14 children died in the incident,” the statement said, without providing their ages or specifying the cause of the blaze.
According to Reuters, the fire was triggered by a fault in the hospital’s air-conditioning system.
Local reports suggested that 16 newborns were present in the hospital’s gynaecology ward when the fire broke out, with one infant rescued.
The differing casualty figures in the initial reports could not be independently reconciled in the information provided by the two news agencies.
Islamabad Chief Commissioner Sohail Ashraf said on X that rescue teams, specialists and police, along with himself, “immediately reached the site and controlled the fire”.
The district office said the fire was brought under control after emergency responders reached the hospital.
AFP reported that the statement did not give further details about the victims.
The incident has once again highlighted the dangers posed by fires in large buildings in Pakistan. AFP noted that such fires are frequent in the country and have often been associated with poor safety laws and building codes, as well as lax enforcement.
The agency cited several previous deadly fires, including a January blaze at a shopping centre in Karachi that killed more than 65 people.
Another shopping mall fire in Karachi in 2023 killed at least 11 people, while a factory fire in the city in 2021 killed at least 16 workers.
In 2012, at least 250 labourers died when a fire engulfed a garment factory in Karachi’s Baldia Town. AFP reported that the building had no fire escape.
