At least 15 infants are killed in Islamabad hospital fire, local media reports

ISLAMABAD — At least 15 infants were killed when a fire broke out at a state-run hospital in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, set off by a fault in air-conditioning systems, local broadcaster Geo TV reported Wednesday. The blaze started around 7 a.m. (10 p.m. Tuesday ET) at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), on the third floor of the hospital’s mother and child health ward, the broadcaster said. The incident is among the deadliest hospital fires in recent years in the country, where government health care is subsidized but facilities are under-resourced and overburdened while watchdogs have frequently criticized state-run facilities as mismanaged. There were 16 newborns in the ward when the fire broke out, one of whom was rescued, Geo reported. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed authorities to conduct an immediate investigation, his office said. “Those responsible should be identified, and the strictest action should be taken,” Sharif’s office said in a statement. The ward was cordoned off and ambulances were seen outside the hospital building, according to a Reuters witness. PIMS, centrally located in Islamabad, is one of the city’s main public hospitals. Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan was briefly treated there last week.