AMRAVATI: When parents and families of infants were fast asleep outside a government hospital in Maharashtra's Amravati, waiting for the children's recovery, they never imagined the night would turn into horror.
A huge fire ripped through the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the District Women's Hospital, leaving some newborns covered in black ashes, as panic spread through the wards, eyewitnesses told PTI Videos.
Security guards and nurses rushed in to rescue children from the smoke‑filled care units, some parents recalled, even as they blamed the hospital administration for the incident.
Relatives of some children admitted to the hospital also claimed that the ward’s water spray system failed to function and said it should have been activated immediately when the fire broke out.
Tragedy struck the hospital's NICU, where premature, low-weight and critically ill newborns were undergoing treatment, at around 3.15 am on Monday, claiming the lives of three infants, officials said.
Yogesh Savarkar, a resident of Achalpur in Amravati, said his wife and eight‑day‑old child were admitted to the hospital, while he was sleeping outside the building when the fire broke out.
Savarkar said his child was on the first floor of the hospital. As flames spread through one of the wards, he rushed upstairs, rescued his baby, and carried him down to safety.
The situation was extremely difficult, with fire spreading above the children admitted in the ward, he and relatives of some other children recalled.
“My child was on the first floor, and I personally went and brought him down. However, I could see black ashes on the other children in the hospital,” Savarkar said.
Security guards were the first to reach the spot and began rescuing the children, he claimed, adding that he also saw a nurse helping save lives.
Relatives of the children squarely blamed the administration for the tragedy.
The families said they did not know the exact cause of the blaze, but described seeing a huge fire raging through the ward as panic spread among parents and staff.