Door was locked at Pakistan hospital where fire killed 14 babies, witnesses say

It was just after dawn on Wednesday morning at a maternity ward in the Pakistani capital when a horrific blaze erupted.

It would go on to kill 14 infants as parents say they waited hours for help to arrive.

Hivsa Walid was near the room at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital with her sister-in-law, who had given birth days earlier. She initially heard a shout and thought a patient had died - but then she saw smoke.

The pair fled with the baby, who is so small she does not yet have a name.

"We didn't even think about our belongings. We just grabbed the baby and rushed downstairs.

"Some patients had delivered their babies just that night. I don't even know how we managed to get down - it was all a blur."

The fire broke out in an air-conditioning unit on the third floor of the mother and child unit at PIMS, one of the main state-run hospitals in Islamabad. Only one of the 15 babies present was saved.

Khurram Mehmood, 40, told AFP news agency there was a long wait for rescue workers. "I lost my daughter. She was only three days old," he said.

Jaweria, the mother of another victim, told AFP news agency the door to the maternity ward was locked.

"For two hours I kept crying and wailing," she said. "Police arrived after four hours and said they are here to investigate."

"Why did the doctors leave the children there?" she asks.

"To hell with you, rescue team and police. Babies burnt to death there, but nobody could save them."

Rana Imran Sikander, the hospital's executive director, told the BBC the ward's door was not locked but was manned. He cited the need to protect babies from being stolen, something that has happened before at government hospitals.

Walid suggested PIMS's safety protocols were inadequate, despite it being a major hospital. "There should have been fire extinguishers and protocols, but no one was doing anything - everyone was just running."

The father of a baby who died told Reuters he had been visiting the ward for eight days and the building had "no fire security, no proper exits".

"All doors were closed, only one door was for us to visit our children. They kept the other doors locked because they feared we would come to see our children too often."

Several eyewitnesses have claimed duty staff were not around.

People had to "break the door down" and rescue teams were forced to smash the windows to control the flames, a witness who did not give her name told AFP.

Abdul Ghafoor, another witness, told AFP he tried to get into the building to rescue patients but couldn't reach the maternity ward.

"There was thick black smoke inside and patients were trapped," he said. "Rescue teams arrived after almost two hours."

Islamabad's Chief Commissioner Sohail Ashraf said rescue teams reached the scene "immediately" after the emergency call was first made, according to AFP.

PIMS is one of the biggest hospitals in Pakistan's capital, with 156 beds in its maternal and child health unit.

The country has dealt with a number of major fires in recent years, with poor safety laws, building codes and lax enforcement often blamed for steep death tolls.

Survivors of a fire which killed dozens at a Karachi shopping mall in January this year said locked exits probably contributed to the high number of fatalities.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed his "deep sorrow and heartfelt regret" over the latest blaze, and instructed authorities to "conduct an immediate investigation", according to a statement from his office.

He has also suspended Federal Health Secretary Aslam Ghauri, a top official in the health department.

"Such a situation with children is irreparable," the statement said.

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