'We Don't Want To Re-Admit,' Mothers Hide Newborn Under Blanket At Jhansi Hospital After Fire Tragedy

Jhansi: Alarmed at the intensity of the tragedy after a fire at the NICU of the hospital took the lives of ten infants, the mothers of the newborn are refusing to be readmitted to Jhansi Medical College. They fear further untoward incidents would harm their children.

Women were seen hiding their children in blankets at different places. Babli, a resident of Rath town in Hamirpur district, recounted the horrifying moments of the accident to ETV Bharat. She was feeding her newborn when chaos erupted. A nurse engulfed in flames, rushed out screaming, prompting Babli to rush to safety. The nurse eventually saved herself by removing her clothes.

As the fire began to spread, Babli grabbed her three-day-old baby and rushed outside, calling out to her husband for help. By the time he arrived, the fire had intensified. The couple witnessed a traumatic scene: severely burned children stumbling out, with six or seven charred bodies being carried together on a stretcher. The gruesome sight left them shaken citing it as the reason to hide their kid under the blankets.

Some people were also seen outside the hospital who were searching for their children. Nothing was known about their children since the fire incident. They say that after the fire broke out, the doctors and nurses ran away to save their lives, there was no one to save their children. It is not known whether their child is alive or not.

Lalitpur resident Sanjana Soni recounted the horror she faced when the fire broke out at the hospital where her newborn son was being treated. Her child, she told ETV Bharat, her first boy, had undergone surgery on Friday after falling ill at birth. When Sanjana arrived to feed him, she witnessed a doctor's leg on fire and chaos erupted. About 15 burned children were rushed out. The status of Sanjana's child is still unknown.

Traumatised families who managed to save their children are now hiding them within the hospital grounds, refusing to admit them again. The condition of the deceased children's bodies is dire, making identification nearly impossible for grieving relatives.

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