Agencies

Patiala, jan 31: Five new born babies were burnt alive and two others were seriously injured at a government hospital in the wee hours on Saturday when the incubators they were kept in caught fire due to a suspected short circuit.

The incident occurred when an incubator, where all the five newly born children were kept, caught fire at 3:15am, Superintendent of Police Gurmit Singh said.

It is suspected that the fire broke out due to a short circuit, he said, adding the identity of the children were not known immediately.

The hospital's medical superintendent, Surinder Kumar, said that the accident occurred after a tubelight in the photo-therapy ward of the hospital burst.

A total of 10 children undergoing treatment for jaundice at the hospital were kept in photo therapy units when the wires of the machine caught fire, charring five of them to death including three boys and two girls.

Photo therapy (light treatment) is used for the treatment of jaundice. Two other children were seriously injured while three others were rescued. The victims were in the age group of three to seven days.

Parents of the children rushed to the ward on hearing a loud burst there and saw that the room was already in flames.