At least 14 infants were killed when a fire broke out on Wednesday morning at a state-run hospital in Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, triggered by a fault in air conditioning systems, according to local authorities.

The fire broke out on the third floor of the Mother and Child Health Ward at the public Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Hospital, the Islamabad district office said in a statement.

"A total of 14 children died in the incident," it said, without giving their ages.

The statement did not state the cause of the fire.

Sohail Ashraf, the Islamabad chief commissioner, said on X that rescue teams, specialists, police and himself "immediately reached at site and controlled the fire".

There were 16 newborns at the hospital's gynaecology ward when the fire broke out, according to Geo TV.

Fires in large buildings are frequent in Pakistan, often due to poor safety laws and building codes as well as lax enforcement.

In January, more than 65 people were killed in a shopping centre fire in the port city of Karachi.

At least 11 people were killed in another shopping mall fire in Karachi in 2023.

In 2021, at least 16 workers died after a factory fire in the same city.

In 2012, at least 250 labourers died at a garment factory in Baldia Town, in western Karachi, when a fire engulfed the facility.

The building had no fire escape. (Agencies)



Edited by Tony Sabine