Amravati (Maharashtra), Aug 24 (PTI) Three newborn infants died after a devastating fire broke out in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the District Women’s Hospital here early on Monday, prompting the state government to order a high-level inquiry into the tragedy.
Thirty-six other infants were rescued from the smoke-filled facility following the fire, which erupted at around 3.15 am inside a section of the NICU housing premature, low-weight, and critically ill babies, officials said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed deep grief over the “heart-breaking” incident and ordered a high-level probe to investigate the cause of the fire and pinpoint administrative failures.
“The health administration has been directed to conduct a high-level inquiry,” Fadnavis said in a statement, assuring that the strictest action would be taken against those found responsible.
He directed state health minister Prakashrao Abitkar and health secretary to visit Amravati in eastern Maharashtra immediately to review the situation and directed local authorities to ensure that all injured children receive treatment at government expense.
He announced an ex-gratia financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to the family of each deceased infant.
According to police and health officials, the fire was triggered by an explosion in a ventilator in the outborn infants’ section of the NICU.
The facility consists of three compartments, inborn, outborn, and a step-down care ward for infants preparing for discharge, housing a total of 39 babies at the time of the incident.
While staff and rescuers managed to evacuate six babies from the affected outborn section, three infants tragically died in the flames.
Amravati Police Commissioner Rakesh Ola said that six rescued infants were shifted to a super-speciality hospital, while four others were transferred to the Divisional Referral Services Hospital, where one child remains in critical condition.
The bodies of the three deceased infants have been sent for post-mortem examination, he said.
The tragedy sparked severe outrage among parents and relatives waiting outside the facility, who alleged gross negligence and a complete failure of safety infrastructure.
Eyewitnesses claimed the ward’s fire alarms failed to sound and the automatic water sprinkler system did not activate as smoke rapidly filled the ward.
Parents described a chaotic and terrifying scene, where security guards and on-duty nurses braved blinding smoke and heat to pull out babies from their cradles and incubators before fire tenders arrived.
Yogesh Savarkar, a resident of Achalpur whose eight-day-old child was admitted on the first floor, recalled sleeping outside when panic erupted. “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, noting that security guards and a nurse were the first to enter the smoke-filled ward.
Nurses on duty described the horrifying moments as they fought to save the infants amid poor visibility.
“While the ventilator was burning, we removed the babies. I can’t describe it; it was terrible. The babies were burning next to it; we rescued them, extracted the incubator, and shifted them,” two nurses on duty told reporters, adding they worked frantically until all nine babies in the outborn section were brought outside.
For many families, a night of anticipation turned into unmitigated heartbreak.
Swapnil Barge, a resident of Pulgaon village, had telephoned his family hours earlier to celebrate the birth of his premature son, born just a day prior.
“Around 3.30 am, I was standing at the hospital gate with a friend when I heard a woman shouting… Then there was an uproar, and the fire brigade came. I kept looking for my baby and wife, searched a lot but couldn’t find him,” Barge said inconsolably. It was only at 7.30 am that he received the crushing news that his newborn had died in the blaze.
Another grieving father, Praful Chopde, whose five-day-old son died in the fire, blamed the administration for negligence and said that his wife had not even seen the infant over the past five days, questioning why the fire alarms failed to sound and why authorities waited for fire tenders rather than acting immediately with functional safety systems.
The tragedy quickly escalated into a major political row in Maharashtra, with Opposition parties targeting the state government over alleged administrative laxity and non-compliance with fire safety protocols.
Senior NCP (SP) leader and former state home minister Anil Deshmukh alleged that recommendations made by a committee following the 2021 Bhandara hospital fire, which had claimed the lives of 10 infants, had gone unimplemented. Deshmukh demanded immediate fire and electrical audits of public hospitals across the state.
Congress leader Yashomati Thakur, who visited the hospital following the tragedy, questioned the official claim of a ventilator explosion, noting that a similar fire had occurred at the facility previously. She demanded scrutiny into the safety of electrical connections and accountability from equipment suppliers.
Defending the medical staff, Health Minister Abitkar expressed deep sorrow, asserting that hospital personnel left no stone unturned and made every possible effort to save the infants.
State Revenue Minister and Amravati Guardian Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule assured that a comprehensive probe involving fire personnel and the Public Works Department’s electrical wing would determine the exact cause of the fire and fix strict responsibility. PTI COR CLS ND MR ARU SKL GK RSY
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