Four-month-old child dies in fire at Hyderabad's Shine Children's Hospital

According to official sources, the fire started following an electric short circuit and flames spread quickly to the entire floor.
The baby who died
The baby who died

HYDERABAD:  A pre-dawn ravaging fire that broke out in a children’s hospital in LB Nagar here on Monday devoured a four-month-old boy and injured five other children, triggering panic and pandemonium among the parents of the children and the hospital staff. The fire, which started in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) on the third floor of Shine Hospital following an electric short circuit in a refrigerator, quickly spread to the entire floor, filling it with thick smoke.

The parents and hospital staff quickly shifted the six children in the NICU and also about 40 children on the remaining three floors to nearby hospitals. But one of the children died. The condition of those rescued is reported to be critical. The floor on which the fire broke out neither has a fire safety alarm nor proper ventilation, which led to smoke filling the entire space quickly, causing the children to suffocate. As the fire broke out around 2.15 am, it took time for the attendants to notice it.

After noticing the fire as it was spreading fast, parents rushed to the NICU and rescued the children. All six children, who received burns on the face, chest, stomach, and legs, were rushed to nearby hospitals before fire tenders reached. Initially, the children were sent to a nearby hospital, and from there, the injured ones were shifted to five different hospitals. According to reports, a private hospital refused to admit four of the five children citing their critical condition.

Fire department officials said they received a call at 2.59 am and rushed to the spot in seven minutes. “The Mist Bullet crew and multi-purpose fire tenders reached the spot at 3.06 am.

The fire crew tried to let out the smoke by breaking the glass,” a release from the Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Services Department read. The officials added that fire-fighting systems in the hospital were not working. B Sreenaiah, Hayathnagar station fire officer, suspected that the fire started from sparks that emerged from the refrigerator. He added that the medical equipment in the ICU caught fire in no time.

Notices issued to hospital

GHMC’s Enforcement Vigilance Disaster Management director Viswajit Kampati issued notices to the hospital management to furnish its fire NOC and other documents.  The police registered a case under Section 304 A of the IPC

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