UP hospital fire: 4-member probe team formed; govt dismisses claims of expired fire extinguishers, electrical short circuit suspected

According to Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar, the fire broke out around 10.45 pm on Friday in the NICU wards of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, one of the largest government hospitals in the state's Bundelkhand region, possibly due to an electrical short circuit.

Lucknow/Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh: The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday formed a four-member committee to probe into the fire at the children's ward of a medical college in Jhansi that snuffed out the lives of 10 newborns as officials suspect electrical short circuit to be the cause of the tragic incident.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has already directed the Divisional Commissioner of Jhansi, the fire department and the deputy inspector general of police to submit a report on the incident within 12 hours.

Amid claims that the medical college had expired fire extinguishers, Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak asserted all firefighting equipment in the college was completely fine and a fire safety audit was carried out in February and a mock drill in June.

Principal of the medical college, Dr Narendra Singh Sengar, also termed the allegations "baseless".

The committee, to be headed by the Director General of Medical Education and Training, has been tasked with identifying the cause of the fire and determining whether any negligence was involved and asked to submit its report within seven days.

"Sixteen children are undergoing treatment in other wards of the medical college. The children, who were three to four days old, have been kept on a warmer," Pathak told PTI.

The blaze at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where the infants admitted were mostly prematurely born, has been doused but the air around is heavy with sorrow. Parents, mostly young mothers, and their families who gathered outside the children's ward clung to one another, drawing strength in their darkest hour.

Yakub Mansuri was sleeping on the pavement outside the children's ward Friday night when the fire broke out. He broke in through a window and managed to rescue some newborns but not his two daughters.

Santoshi, who gave birth just 11 days ago, sat on the ground sobbing with her face covered by her palms, not ready to accept the loss of her child.

Post-mortem of seven infants was carried out on Saturday while the autopsy of three could not be done as their parents have not been identified yet, Additional Superintendent of Police (City) of Jhansi Gyanendra Kumar Singh told PTI.

According to District Magistrate Avinash Kumar, the fire broke out around 10.45 pm on Friday in the NICU wards of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, one of the largest government hospitals in the state's Bundelkhand region, possibly due to an electrical short circuit.

President Droupadi Murmu termed the incident "extremely heartbreaking" while Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an assistance of Rs 2 lakh for the family of each deceased. The Uttar Pradesh government has also announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the parents of the newborns who died and Rs 50,000 to the kin of each of the injured.

The incident sparked a political blame game in the state where bypolls to nine assembly seats are to be held on November 20. Opposition parties blamed the BJP government in the state and said the deaths raise many serious questions on the administration.

The Congress targeted the Adityanath dispensation with Rahul Gandhi saying such tragic incidents happening one after another in Uttar Pradesh speak of negligence of the government and administration.

Party president Mallikarjun Kharge demanded an investigation into the accident and strict legal action against whoever was found guilty of negligence.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said Adityanath should leave the poll campaign and focus on improving the state's health and medical facilities. He also demanded that Rs 1 crore should be paid to all bereaved families, adding, "Gorakhpur should not be repeated".

A statement from the Uttar Pradesh government said that on Adityanath's directions to expedite the rescue work, senior officials took charge of the situation Friday night itself.

Most of the children were evacuated to safety within 15 to 20 minutes through the rescue operation, it said, adding that most of the infants were shifted to the PICU ward.

Expressing his condolences to the families of the deceased children, Adityanath directed the officials to provide all possible help to the victims.

At an election rally at Phulpur in Prayagraj, he said the fire was caused by a short circuit.

"To ensure that other children were rescued, we were up all night coordinating (with officials) for relief and rescue efforts," he said while explaining why he was delayed in arriving at the rally.

"My heart goes out to those who lost their children," he said.

The state government also said that as soon as information about the incident was received, Adityanath sent his deputy Pathak and the principal health secretary to the spot.

"Instructions have been issued to launch a three-tier probe into the incident. The Jhansi Divisional Commissioner and the DIG have been told to probe the matter and the fire department will also look into it. Along with this, instructions have also been given for a magisterial inquiry into the incident," Pathak said on X.

In another post in Hindi on X, Pathak said he has spoken to the family of the children injured in the blaze and assured them of all possible help.

Interacting with reporters, he said, "We will detect the cause of the incident and whose negligence led to it. The priority is giving quality treatment to the injured."

Talking about the rescue operation, the principal of the medical college said, "The children who did not suffer any burn injury or suffocation are being taken care of at the district hospital. The rescued children have been admitted to other wards of the medical college, district hospital and private nursing homes."

Earlier on Saturday, Senior Superintendent of Police Sudha Singh told reporters that 16 injured children were being treated and efforts were underway to save their lives.

There was also information that some parents took their children home after the fire erupted in the ward, she said, adding police are trying to verify the tally of infants who were in the NICU and their current status.

"The medical college has informed that 52 to 54 children were admitted at the time of the incident. While 10 of them died, 16 are undergoing treatment. Verification for others is ongoing," Singh added.