Six Newborns Perish In Hospital Fire In Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal Says, ‘Heartbreaking…’

New Delhi: Six newborn babies died after a fire broke out at New Born Baby Care Hospital in Vivek Vihar area of East Delhi on Saturday night.

A total of 12 newborn babies were admitted to the hospital. While one among them had already died before the incident, 6 others perished in the fire. The remaining five were shifted to East Delhi Advance NICU hospital, ANI reported quoting police sources.

The Delhi Fire Services said it received a call at 11.32 pm. “…total 16 fire tenders reached the spot and fire has been extinguished completely. 2 buildings were affected by the fire, one is the hospital building and 2 floors of a residential building on the right side also caught fire…11-12 people were rescued and they were taken to hospital. Further details will be shared later,” Fire Officer Rajesh told the news agency.

Delhi Police informed that the owner of hospital, Naveen Kichi, a resident of Paschim Vihar, is absconding. An FIR under Sections 336 (act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life) and 304A (causes the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide) is being registered.

“…12 of the newborn babies were rescued but, unfortunately, 6 of them died due to suffocation, one more child is in critical condition. I tried calling the health secretary but he is not picking up the call… We will take such strict action that none of the officials commit such negligence in future. We are with the families who have lost their babies. I’ll talk to the DCP regarding this that the prosecution to be launched on the owners as soon as possible,” Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Sunday morning.

A short circuit is suspected to have caused the fire, he said, adding that, the blaze then spread as the oxygen cylinders in the hospital exploded.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that this incident of fire in a children’s hospital is heartbreaking. “We all stand with those who lost their innocent children in this accident.”

In a second incident, three individuals were killed in a fire that engulfed a residential building in the Krishna Nagar district of East Delhi during the early hours of Sunday.

The incident occurred shortly after 27 persons, including four children under the age of 12, were killed in the massive fire that swept through a game zone teeming with people enjoying a summer vacation outing on Saturday evening in Gujarat’s Rajkot city.