15 Newborns Die in Fire at Pakistan's Largest Public Hospital After AC Compressor Explosion

A fire broke out before dawn Wednesday in the neonatal nursery of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad, killing at least 15 newborns. It is the deadliest hospital fire Pakistan has seen in years, and it happened in the country's flagship public hospital, not some rural clinic with no resources.

According to Geo News, the nursery housed 16 newborns when the fire broke out around 6:45 a.m. Only one baby survived. PIMS spokesperson Dr. Aneeza Jalil told Dawn newspaper that 15 babies were in the ward at the time, though she cautioned the exact death toll couldn't be confirmed immediately because some infants may have been discharged overnight.

What caused it, and why the accounts don't fully agree

Multiple outlets, including Al Jazeera and the Times of India, cited rescue sources saying the fire started after an air-conditioner compressor exploded inside the nursery. Dr. Jalil gave a different account to Dawn, saying the fire appeared to have erupted due to a short circuit. Both explanations point to the same underlying problem: electrical failure in a maternity and newborn ward. Which specific mechanism triggered it has not been officially settled.

Geo News, citing the district administration, reported that 14 children were completely burned in the blaze, which broke out on the third floor of the hospital's Maternal and Child Health (MCH) ward. Six fire brigade vehicles and four ambulances responded. Islamabad's Chief Commissioner Sohail Ashraf said an emergency call came in just before 7 a.m. local time and that rescue teams "controlled the fire," according to a post on X cited by CNN.

Parents say nobody was watching the babies

Geo News reported that parents at the scene alleged hospital staff were not present in the incubation center when the fire broke out. That claim has not been independently verified by hospital officials, and PIMS has not issued a detailed response to it. If true, it raises questions that go beyond faulty wiring, about whether the ward was adequately staffed overnight in a unit housing some of the most vulnerable patients in any hospital.

The MCH ward has since been sealed off. Rescue officials said the flames were extinguished, but cooling operations at the site continued for hours afterward, according to Geo News and the Straits Times.

The government's response

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered an immediate investigation and demanded "strict action against those found responsible," according to Geo News. He called the loss of the children "irreparable" and said he shared "the grief of the parents." An inquiry committee has been formed under an additional deputy commissioner to determine the cause of the fire and establish accountability.

Pakistan has a documented pattern of hospital fires tied to aging electrical infrastructure, particularly at government-run facilities, according to CNN. PIMS is not some backwater clinic. It's described on its own website as aiming to be "a premier research-intensive medical university" educating students to "international professional standards." If the country's top public hospital can't keep a compressor from exploding in a room full of newborns, the failure reflects maintenance standards at facilities the government controls directly, not a private-sector failure that regulators can blame on someone else.

Where the coverage differs

Most outlets, including the Hindu, Al Jazeera, and Daily Excelsior, stuck to the 15-death figure while explicitly noting there was no official confirmation at the time of their reporting. CNN's count, via KRDO, was lower: at least 13 children dead, with the toll expected to rise and some survivors in critical condition. Early casualty counts after a fast-moving disaster often vary without reflecting a factual contradiction. As of Wednesday morning Islamabad time, PIMS itself had not issued a final, confirmed death toll.

What's unresolved

The inquiry committee has not yet said whether the fire started from the AC compressor, a short circuit, or some combination of failures, nor has it addressed the parents' allegation that staff were absent from the incubation unit. No timeline for the investigation's findings has been announced. Sharif's government now faces the harder test: whether "strict action" against whoever is found responsible actually follows, or whether this becomes another hospital fire that fades from the news cycle before anyone is held accountable.