Seven newborns die in Delhi hospital fire, police apprehends owner

The incident occurred late at night prompting a swift response from the Delhi Fire Services

A massive fire broke out at New Born Baby Care Hospital in Delhi's Vivek Vihar area on Saturday night, resulting in the death of seven infants and leaving several others injured.

According to news agency ANI, the Delhi police has apprehended the owner of the baby care centre. Earlier today, the police had filed an FIR against Naveen Chinchi, the proprietor of Baby Care New Born Hospital, under IPC sections 336, 304A, and 34.

The incident occurred late at night, prompting a swift response from the Delhi Fire Services, who dispatched nine fire tenders to the scene upon receiving the call at 11:32 pm.

Officials confirmed that twelve newborns were rescued from the hospital. The rescued newborns have been shifted to East Delhi Advance NICU hospital for further treatment and care.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on May 26 said the east Delhi children hospital fire which left seven newborns dead is heart-rending and warned that those responsible for negligence will not be spared. Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also said strictest punishment will be given to those found negligent or involved in any wrongdoing.

According to news agency PTI, The officials of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said the blaze broke out at the Baby Care New Born Hospital in Shahdara on Saturday night. Twelve newborns were rescued from the medical facility but seven of them died, DFS chief Atul Garg said. Five babies are undergoing treatment at another hospital. He added that the fire was caused due to a blast in an oxygen cylinder and spread rapidly.

“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 6 were dead. That is a regrettable incident,” the DFS chief said.

The bodies of the deceased newborns have been shifted to the GTB Hospital for postmortem. The police said that action will being initiated against the owner of the hospital, who has been identified as Naveen Kichi.

Expressing grief, President Droupadi Murmu  said the death of children due to a fire in a hospital in Delhi is heart-rending and prayed for strength to the bereaved parents. "I pray for the speedy recovery of other children injured in this incident," she said.