At least 14 victims. ‘Rescue expected for hours and doors closed’. But the authorities deny it
The flames suddenly broke out, filling the lane with smoke. It was still early morning when a terrible fire killed newborns in the maternity ward of the Pims hospital in Islamabad. A tragedy that shook the world and immediately brought the thorny issue of infrastructure safety in Pakistan back under the magnifying glass.
The death toll is terrible: 14 newborn babies have lost their lives in what is one of the largest hospitals in the country. Only one of the newborns in the room was saved, taken away in time by one of the doctors according to the Dawn newspaper.
Authorities say the fire started from an air conditioner. So they’re talking about a failure. Outside the hospital, the international media reports of people shocked and in tears. The entrance was cordoned off and guarded by the police. Photos from the scene show a large number of ambulances and fire trucks.
However, the dynamics of the tragedy still remain unclear.
Some witnesses interviewed by AFP claim to have waited for “hours” for help, others say they found locked doors and guards who “prevented people inside the building from leaving while the fire raged”. “The windows of the ward were smashed by rescuers as they tried to reach the newborns,” the Guardian points out.
The authorities deny. “The accident occurred at around 6.45 am and the rescue team arrived on site within 15 minutes,” Parliamentary Secretary for Health Nelson Azeem told ANSA. While, interviewed by the BBC, the executive director of the hospital declared that “the door of the maternity ward was not locked, but manned” to prevent any abduction of newborns.
“I rushed in to try to save as many people as possible, but we couldn’t reach the ward where the patients were. The fire had broken out in the infirmary and nothing could be seen. Some of us broke the windows to help people get out,” a witness told AFP. And in the meantime, Unicef is calling for “an urgent review and strengthening of fire prevention and safety standards in all health facilities” in the country to “ensure that every mother and every child can receive the care they need in a safe environment”.
The Pakistani authorities for their part have announced a commission of inquiry dedicated to the tragedy, stating that it will have to establish “the exact cause of the fire”, evaluate “the effectiveness of the rescue operations” and verify “whether adequate fire safety measures were in place”. Then Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif relieved a senior health sector official of his duties. But this terrible massacre could also have repercussions on the executive: two former ministers have in fact openly asked for the resignation of the current head of the Ministry of Health, Mustafa Kamal.
