Fourteen children were killed when fire tore through a maternity ward in Pakistan’s capital this morning, according to the Islamabad district office.
The blaze erupted on the third floor of the Mother and Child Health Ward at the public Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, the district office said in a statement.
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“A total of 14 children died in the incident,” the statement said, without providing their ages.
Authorities did not disclose what caused the fire.
He said the emergency call came in shortly before 7am local time.
Deadly fires in large buildings are common in Pakistan, where weak safety regulations, outdated building codes and lax enforcement have repeatedly been blamed for worsening disasters.
In January, more than 65 people died in a fire at a shopping centre in the port city of Karachi.
Another blaze at a Karachi shopping mall killed at least 11 people in 2023.
At least 16 workers were killed in a factory fire in the same city in 2021.
In 2012, a fire engulfed a garment factory in Baldia Town, western Karachi, killing at least 250 labourers. The building had no fire escape.
