A fire occurred at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad on Wednesday morning, resulting in the deaths of newborns housed in the facility's third-floor nursery. The blaze reportedly began around 7:00 a.m. within the mother and child health ward. Local authorities, including Islamabad Chief Commissioner Sohail Ashraf, confirmed that emergency responders, police, and medical specialists were dispatched to the scene to manage the crisis.

There is a discrepancy regarding the total number of fatalities. The Independent reports that 14 infants died in the incident, while the South China Morning Post (SCMP), citing local broadcaster Geo TV, reports that at least 15 newborns were killed.

Regarding the cause of the fire, sources also offer different levels of detail. The Independent focuses on the official inquiry ordered by authorities, while the SCMP explicitly identifies a fault in the hospital’s air conditioning system as the trigger for the blaze. Government officials have initiated an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the tragedy, though specific findings from that inquiry have not yet been released to the public. The hospital remains under scrutiny as families and officials await further clarity on the safety failures that allowed the fire to spread through the nursery ward.