On a devastating Wednesday in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, a fire sparked by an exploding air conditioning unit claimed the lives of 14 newborns being cared for in the nursery of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, one of the city’s largest and most prominent public healthcare facilities, senior government and hospital officials confirmed.
Of the 15 infants present in the third-floor nursery when the blaze broke out, only one was successfully rescued by a quick-acting on-duty doctor, hospital spokesperson Dr. Aneeza Jalil told reporters. As of Thursday morning, six of the 14 infant bodies had already been released to grieving families for burial, with the remaining remains set to be turned over pending final formal identification.
Television footage captured from the scene showed rescue teams scaling ladders to reach the locked nursery through shattered windows after the fire trapped the infants inside. Outside the hospital, distraught parents and family members clustered together, many openly weeping as they waited for updates, while others demanded immediate answers about the cause of the fire and whether the unit lacked mandated fire safety equipment that could have prevented the deaths.
The tragedy has already triggered swift official action: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif immediately ordered the removal of Aslam Ghauri, the top civil servant at Pakistan’s Health Ministry, from his post, and announced a full independent probe into the incident. The Islamabad district magistrate has convened a formal fact-finding committee mandated to deliver a full investigative report within 24 hours. The panel’s scope includes identifying the root cause of the blaze, assessing how it spread so rapidly through the nursery, verifying whether the facility met national fire safety standards, and evaluating the speed and effectiveness of the emergency response after the fire was reported.
Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal confirmed the final death toll in an interview with Geo News, noting he was traveling immediately from Karachi to Islamabad to oversee the investigation personally. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi joined Prime Minister Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari in issuing public statements of profound condolences to the affected families.
“This is a heartbreak no parent should ever have to endure; the loss of a child is an irreparable harm,” Sharif said during an emergency high-level meeting with security and health officials held just hours after the blaze was extinguished. President Zardari echoed that sentiment, calling the deaths “heartbreaking and unforgivable,” demanding that all individuals found responsible for safety failures be held legally accountable, and issuing an urgent order for all hospitals across Pakistan to immediately audit and upgrade their fire safety protocols and emergency response plans.
Hospital officials confirmed the fire was fully contained to the nursery wing, with no damage or injuries reported in other parts of the large facility, and emergency crews extinguished the blaze within an hour of the first alarm.
For many grieving family members, however, official action has come too late. Mrs. Mohammad Sami, a new mother who gave birth just three days before the fire, told reporters her infant was receiving critical intensive care in the nursery when the blaze broke out. “I don’t know what to say or whom to blame,” she said through tears. “I have lost my child.”
This incident marks the second major deadly tragedy involving children in Pakistan in less than two months. In June, a structural collapse at an under-construction tutoring center in the eastern city of Lahore killed 14 schoolchildren, renewing public outcry over widespread disregard for safety regulations in both public and private facilities across the country.