Ten newborns killed in north India hospital fire

The babies died from burns and suffocation after a blaze swept through a neonatal intensive care unit in Jhansi.

A fire ripped through the neonatal unit of a hospital in northern India, killing 10 newborns and injuring 17, the authorities said.

Emergency responders rescued 38 newborns from the ward, which housed 49 infants at the time of the incident, said Uttar Pradesh state’s Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak on Saturday.

The fire broke out at 10:30pm (17:00 GMT) on Friday at the Maharani Lakshmibai Medical College in Jhansi, about 450km (280 miles) south of the national capital, New Delhi.

“Seventeen of the injured are receiving treatment in different wings and some private hospitals,” Pathak told reporters in Jhansi.

The newborns died from burns and suffocation. Seven of the dead infants have been identified, while efforts were on to identify the remaining three, Pathak said.