"Culprits Will Not Be Spared": Delhi Minister On Children Hospital Fire

After seven newborns lost their lives in a tragic fire incident at a New Born Baby Care Hospital in Delhi's Vivek Vihar, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj assured of strict action in the case.

According to the officials, 12 children were rescued from the incident site where one was already dead before the fire call was made.

"Six newborn babies lost their lives after the fire broke out and five others have been admitted to the hospital," Delhi Police said.

Saurabh Bharadwaj, in a post on X, said, "Very unfortunate incident reported. I have asked the Secretary (Health) to update me about the current situation. Culprits will not be spared. Strictest punishment will be ensured for those found negligent or involved in any wrongdoing."

Appropriate legal action is being taken against the owner of the hospital namely Naveen Kichi.

Atul Garg, Director of Delhi Fire Department told ANI that the operation was very tough as there was a blast of cylinders.

"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 from the hospital. But after arrival, they declared that 6 were dead. That is a regrettable incident," Mr Garg said.

A relative of a newborn who died in the incident said that strict action should be taken in the matter.

"My brother's child was admitted here on May 20. We went to the police station and asked them for information, they asked us to go to the hospital for information. We were not allowed to stay here. Strict action should be taken in this matter," Sumit, a relative of a newborn baby admitted at the hospital said.

The rescued newborns were shifted to East Delhi Advance NICU hospital.

All of them are on oxygen support and treatment is underway.

While speaking to ANI, East Delhi Advance NICU Director Ramji Bhardwaj said that after the accident last night, 12 children came to them, out of which seven were dead.

"The police took the children to GTB Hospital for post-mortem. The remaining five are admitted to us. Out of the five children, one child is very weak whose weight is around 800 grams. He has been kept on a ventilator and his condition is critical. Rest four are stable and their treatment is underway," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)