Fire Erupts At Pakistan Nursery For Newborns Killing 14
By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
ISLAMABAD (Worthy News) – Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed sorrow and ordered an immediate investigation after a fire erupted early Wednesday at a nursery for newborns in a major government hospital in Pakistan’s capital, killing more than a dozen babies.
Hospital and government officials confirmed that at least 14 infants died in the blaze at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad. It housed at least 15 newborns when the fire broke out. At least one baby was rescued.
Rescue officials reported the fire began at about 6:45 a.m. local time, apparently after the compressor of an air-conditioning unit exploded inside the nursery, which is part of the hospital’s gynecology ward.
Video footage obtained by Worthy News showed masked firefighters struggling with heavy smoke as they entered the building to find survivors.
Officials indicated the newborns were receiving specialized medical care when flames and smoke swept through the facility. However, they were severely burned, and medics were unable to save their lives.
DEADLY NURSERY BLAZE
Emergency crews rushed fire engines and ambulances to the hospital and brought the blaze under control as rescuers searched the affected area.
Hospital officials initially suggested the blaze may have resulted from a short circuit, while Health Minister Mustafa Kamal later attributed it to an explosion in an air-conditioning unit.
Sharif expressed deep sorrow over the deaths and ordered an immediate investigation, demanding that anyone found responsible for negligence be held accountable.
The inquiry was expected to examine the precise cause of the fire, the hospital’s safety arrangements and the emergency response.
The tragedy was especially devastating because the victims were among the hospital’s most vulnerable patients and had been brought there for specialized care.
PREVIOUS HOSPITAL FIRE
However, it was not Pakistan’s first deadly hospital fire involving newborns. In June 2024, at least 11 infants, most of them newborns, died following a fire in the pediatric ward of Sahiwal Teaching Hospital in Punjab province that investigators linked to a short circuit in the air-conditioning system.
A subsequent inquiry found serious safety shortcomings, including problems with fire extinguishers and the evacuation of babies, Pakistani media reported.
There have been other deadly nursery fires. In 2012, six infants were killed when flames swept through the nursery at Services Hospital in Lahore.
In January 2020, a newborn baby in an incubator was killed when fire erupted in a children’s ward at the National Institute of Child Health in Karachi.
The latest disaster was therefore expected to renew scrutiny of fire prevention and emergency preparedness at hospitals and other public buildings across Pakistan.
SAFETY QUESTIONS
Pakistan has fire-safety and occupational-safety requirements, while building regulations impose measures aimed at preventing fires and enabling people to evacuate safely.
However, enforcement and compliance have repeatedly come under scrutiny following deadly fires in hospitals and other buildings. A joint survey by Lahore civic authorities, for instance, found 495 of 605 high-rise buildings examined lacked adequate firefighting and safety arrangements.
The findings highlighted broader concerns about compliance with fire-safety requirements across the country. There was no immediate evidence Wednesday that PIMS had violated fire-safety regulations.
Investigators had yet to determine whether negligence or inadequate precautions contributed to the deaths. The scale of the tragedy nevertheless raised questions about how flames and potentially lethal smoke could spread through a nursery caring for newborn babies and whether existing safeguards were sufficient.
PIMS, established in 1985, is Islamabad’s largest public-sector hospital and one of the capital’s oldest medical facilities.
For grieving families, however, the facility could not provide the care they had expected: Their newborn children had entered one of the capital’s leading hospitals for medical care, but never returned home.
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