Children hospital fire: Delhi govt orders investigation into incident that killed 7

At least seven newborn babies were killed after a massive fire broke out at New Born Baby Care hospital in east Delhi’s Vivek Vihar on Saturday night

New Delhi: The Delhi government has ordered an investigation into the children’s hospital fire at East Delhi’s Vivek Vihar in which at least seven newborn babies were killed while five others were injured. 

Fire at children hospital in East Delhi’s Vivek Vihar killed seven newborns (Twitter Photo)

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed grief over the incident and said that the people responsible will not be spared for negligence that led to a fire at the hospital. “This incident of fire in a children’s hospital is heartbreaking. We all stand with those who lost their innocent children in this accident. Government and administration officials are busy providing treatment to the injured on the spot. The causes of the incident are being investigated and whoever is responsible for this negligence will not be spared.”

At least seven newborn babies were killed after a massive fire broke out at New Born Baby Care Hospital in East Delhi’s Vivek Vihar on Saturday night. According to officials, as many as 12 babies were rescued, out of which six died, while one died before the fire call was made.

Delhi health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that he has asked the health secretary to update him about the situation and warned of “strictest punishment to the culprits”. 

Taking to X, he condoled the lives that were lost in the fire and said, “Very unfortunate incident reported. I have asked Secretary (Health) to update about the current situation. Culprits will not be spared. Strictest punishment will be ensured for those found negligent or involved in any wrongdoing.”

The health minister said that words of sympathy are inadequate in this hour of grief. “I will try my best to ensure that culprits will not be spared. Complete investigation will be done,” he added.

Bharadwaj, who visited the fire site for inspection, said that it was perhaps caused due to short circuit, and the oxygen cylinder blasts led to a fire quickly spreading in the building. “Children have died due to suffocation and one more child is said to be in serious condition. The culprits will not spared.”

President Droupadi Murmu condoled the loss of lives. The President posted in Hindi, “The news of the death of many children due to a fire in a hospital in Vivek Vihar is heart-rending. May God give strength to the bereaved parents and relatives to bear this shock. I pray for the speedy recovery of other children injured in this incident.”

Surendra Choudhary, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Shahdara) said there were 12 newborn babies admitted to the hospital and one had died before the fire incident.

“All the 12 newborn babies were rescued from the hospital with the help of other people and shifted to East Delhi Advance NICU Hospital in Vivek Vihar for treatment. Meanwhile, fire tenders reached the spot and the fire was controlled. Out of these babies, six were declared brought dead. All seven bodies have been further shifted to GTB Hospital for postmortem,” the DCP said.

An investigation into the matter has been launched and legal action has been initiated against the owner of the hospital, Naveen Khichi.

Delhi Fire Services (DFS) chief Atul Garg said they received a call about the fire around midnight. “The call was about a fire at a baby care centre….Initially, we rushed seven fire tenders and later five fire tenders were added. Because of the blast, the fire spread very quickly and it spread to nearby buildings.”

Garg said that it was a very tough operation. “We made two teams. One team started firefighting because there was a blast of cylinders, we can say the chain of blast of cylinders. So, we had to save ourselves also. We started rescue operations for babies as well.”

“Unfortunately, we could not save all the children. We removed all the twelve babies to the hospital. But after arrival, they declared that six were dead. That is a regrettable incident,” he added.