'Fire Extinguisher Did Not Work': Eyewitnesses Recall Jhansi Fire Tragedy That Killed 10 Infants

Jhansi: Ten newborn babies mitted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Jhansi's Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College lost ir lives after a massive fire broke out. ward h over 50 babies and while at least ten have been killed, 15 ors are undergoing treatment. Eyewitnesses have recalled tragic death of babies and have narrated harrowing details from time of accident.

‘Fire in NICU, Save Babies’: Eyewitness Recall Jhansi Tragedy

tragedy in Jhansi's Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College has claimed lives of 10 infants and over 15 are undergoing treatment. An eyewitness, recalling accident, revealed how a resident doctor came rushing from NICU screaming that a fire has broken out in ward and babies need to be saved; eyewitness also revealed that doctor's leg h also caught fire. This is when a chaos happened to take babies out of ward.

‘Fire Extinguisher Did Not Work’

Shockingly, eyewitness also revealed how when fire broke out, fire extinguishers were used to douse fire but unfortunately, fire extinguishers were not working and fire spre, killing ten babies. As per our reporters, fire extinguishers h expired two years ago and h not been replaced with new ones. 

‘Our Baby Was mitted for a Month, Died in Fire’

Anor woman, who lost her newborn baby in tragic fire, revealed how baby was mitted to hospital for a month and h undergone a major operation yesterday after which he was mitted in NICU. eyewitness said, “Our newborn was mitted here for one month. Yesterday re was an operation and after that, baby was mitted re (NCIU). Around 10 pm yesterday fire broke out, we rushed to take out baby but we were stopped...later we couldn't find baby though we looked for a long time. Later on, we were told that our baby died in fire...my husband went and saw baby...”

Fire at Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College's NICU, 10 Babies Killed

At least 10 children died in a fire that engulfed children's ward of a medical college in Uttar Presh's Jhansi district, officials said, as 16 ors injured battled for life on Saturday. 

District Magistrate (DM) Avinash Kumar told reporters that fire broke out around 10.45 pm on Friday in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, possibly due to an electrical short circuit.

children who were in outer part of NICU were rescued, along with some of those who were in interior part. "Prima facie re is information of death of 10 children," DM said.

Those less critical are mitted in outer section of NICU while more critical patients are kept in interior part, Kumar said. Divisional Commissioner Jhansi Bimal Kumar Dubey, who reached hospital around midnight, told reporters that re were about 30 children in interior section of NICU and most of m were rescued.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jhansi Sudha Singh on Saturday said anor 16 children who suffered injuries in episode were undergoing treatment. re were over 50 children mitted in NICU when incident took place.

(Inputs from PTI)