BANGALORE, India—Five infants, two of them girls, were charred to death when fire broke out on Saturday Jan. 7, at a government hospital in the town of Patiala in Punjab, in northern India.
The incident also left five other infants critically wounded. Authorities shifted one of the wounded to a hospital in the state capital, Chandigarh.
All the dead infants were less than 10 days old. The infants were being treated for jaundice in the phototherapy unit at Rajindra Hospital.
Hospital sources said that the fire that broke out in the wee hours and reduced the entire unit to ashes within minutes. Very few people were around when the incident took place; however, they managed to rescue five infants, sources added.
Hospital authorities said that an electric short circuit might have caused the fire and a probe has been ordered into the incident.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed grief and offered an assistance of Rs1 lakh (about 2,040 USD) to each of the victim families.
The incident also left five other infants critically wounded. Authorities shifted one of the wounded to a hospital in the state capital, Chandigarh.
All the dead infants were less than 10 days old. The infants were being treated for jaundice in the phototherapy unit at Rajindra Hospital.
Hospital sources said that the fire that broke out in the wee hours and reduced the entire unit to ashes within minutes. Very few people were around when the incident took place; however, they managed to rescue five infants, sources added.
Hospital authorities said that an electric short circuit might have caused the fire and a probe has been ordered into the incident.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed grief and offered an assistance of Rs1 lakh (about 2,040 USD) to each of the victim families.
