Jhansi hospital fire: Yogi government forms 4-member panel to probe hospital tragedy that killed 10 infants
The Uttar Pradesh government has formed a four-member committee to investigate the hospital fire in Jhansi that claimed lives of 10 newborn babies. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath confirmed that the blaze was caused by a short circuit at the children's ward of Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi.
At an election rally at Phulpur in Prayagraj, Adityanath said, "To ensure that other children were rescued, we were up all night coordinating (with officials) for relief and rescue efforts," he said while explaining why he was delayed in arriving at the rally.
"My heart goes out to those who lost their children," he said.
Director General of Medical Education and Training will be leading the committee with overseeing the probe with identifying the cause of the fire and determining whether any negligence was involved. The team has been directed to submit the report within seven days.
Meanwhile, the state government has also rejected the claims of faulty and expired fire extinguishers asserting that they were functioning normally.
A post-mortem of seven infants was conducted, while the examination of three newborns is yet to be carried out as their parents could not be identified.
- With inputs from agencies
