(Bloomberg) -- At least 10 newborns are feared dead after a fire broke out at a neonatal unit of a government hospital in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state on Friday night, according to local media reports.
The blaze at Jhansi Medical College appeared to have been caused by a short circuit in the hospital unit, according to the reports. The Times of India said 54 children were in the ward when the fire struck between 10:30 p.m. and 10:45 p.m.
The hospital is a major center for deliveries and neonatal care in the region, the newspaper said.
“The death of children in an accident that occurred in the NICU of the medical college located in Jhansi district is extremely sad and heartbreaking,” Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, said in a post on X. “The district administration and concerned officials have been instructed to carry out relief and rescue operations on a war footing.”
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