Sawt Falasteen - 'Black smoke' chokes Pakistan maternity ward as hospital fire kills 14 infants

The dawn fire broke out on the third floor of the Mother and Child Health Ward at the capital's premier public hospital 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.

Witnesses described chaotic and harrowing scenes, including intense smoke and broken glass, a slow response from emergency services and guards reportedly preventing them from leaving the ward.

Khurram Mehmood, 40, told AFP he lost his three-day-old daughter in the blaze and that rescuers took hours to arrive.

"My wife was in the ward. They took everyone out. We were sitting on the road waiting for help," he said.

The door to the neonatal intensive care unit was locked, according to Jaweria, a woman who said she lost her infant in the blaze.

"I do not believe this. Give me my child back... Why did the doctors leave the children there?"

"The fire spread very quickly. There were babies as young as one-day old," witness Abdul Ghafoor told AFP, adding that he went into the hospital to save patients but could not reach the maternity ward.

"There was thick black smoke inside and patients were trapped... Rescue teams arrived after almost two hours (since the fire started)."

Sohail Ashraf, the Islamabad chief commissioner, said the emergency call was made just before 7:00 am (0200 GMT), with rescue and police teams reaching the scene "immediately" and bringing the fire under control.

Another witness, who did not gave her name, said hospital security "were not letting them out and the guards were stopping them".

"People had to break the door down and rescue teams had to break the windows to control the fire," she added.

- 'Ran for our lives' -

AFP reporters saw a nurse call out the names of babies who had perished in the fire as families gathered outside.

Other patients streamed outside, their faces covered in soot, with one man holding a newborn in his arms.

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, the mother, 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.

Prime Minister Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi expressed "deep grief and sorrow over the deaths of 14 infants" in separate statements.

"The circumstances that led to the incident should be thoroughly reviewed, those responsible should be identified and the strictest possible action should be taken," the prime minister said.

PIMS spokeswoman Aneeza Jalil told AFP the fire was caused by an electrical fault, and "fire sparked from the AC".

Fires in large buildings are frequent in Pakistan, often due to poor safety laws and building codes as well as lax enforcement.

In January more than 65 people were killed in a shopping centre fire in the port city of Karachi.

At least 11 people were killed in another shopping mall fire in Karachi in 2023.

In 2021 at least 16 workers died after a factory fire in the same city.

In 2012 at least 250 labourers died at a garment factory in Karachi.

S.Barghouti--SF-PST