A devastating fire that broke out in the maternity wing of a major public hospital in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad has claimed the lives of 14 infants, triggering official grief and a top-level investigation into the tragedy, national authorities confirmed Wednesday.
The blaze ignited on the third floor of the Mother and Child Health Ward at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), one of the country’s leading public healthcare facilities, according to an official statement released by Islamabad’s district administrative office. All 14 victims confirmed dead were infants, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirmed publicly.
Both Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi issued separate statements expressing profound mourning over the devastating loss of young lives. “Such a tragedy involving innocent children is an irreparable loss,” Sharif said. He added that authorities must launch a full review of all circumstances that led to the fire, pinpoint all parties responsible for any negligence, and take the strongest possible disciplinary or legal action against anyone found at fault.
As of Wednesday afternoon, officials have not yet determined the exact origin or cause of the blaze. Islamabad Chief Commissioner Sohail Ashraf told reporters that emergency services received the first alert about the fire shortly before 7:00 a.m. local time (0200 GMT). Rescue teams and law enforcement personnel deployed to the scene immediately, and managed to bring the fire under full control in a timely manner, Ashraf added.
Reporters from Agence France-Presse on the ground outside PIMS Wednesday witnessed distraught family members, including one woman crying openly, while a man cleared shattered glass from two broken ward windows. Uniformed security personnel were posted at the entrances of the facility to control access as the investigation got underway.
This latest fatal fire has drawn renewed attention to Pakistan’s persistent pattern of deadly blazes in large public and commercial buildings, a crisis widely linked to inadequate safety regulations, outdated building codes, and widespread lax enforcement of existing rules.
Major deadly fires have struck repeatedly in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi over the past decade alone. Just this past January, a fire at a Karachi shopping center killed more than 65 people. In 2023, another blaze at a Karachi shopping mall killed 11 people. In 2021, 16 factory workers died in a Karachi industrial fire. The deadliest incident in recent memory dates back to 2012, when a massive fire engulfed a Baldia Town garment factory in western Karachi, killing at least 250 laborers. The building had no functional fire escapes to allow workers to flee.