India: 'It was my first baby,' Bereaving parents share tragic ordeal after infants die in Jhansi hospital fire

Parents of the newborn children who died in the hospital fire in the Indian city of Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh on Friday (Nov 15) night, shared their heartbreaking ordeal. Meanwhile many were seen seeking answers as they searched for their missing infants.

The fire broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi, killing 10 children and 16 others fighting for their lives.

Santoshi, a mother from Mahoba district's Parsaha village, is still looking for her 10-day-old baby who was in the college's NICU.

'It was my first baby'

"I don't know where my child is. When the fire broke out, I couldn't go inside to rescue my baby. How could I? When no one was able to get inside, how could anyone hand me my baby? Everyone was running around in panic," Santoshi told Indian news agency ANI.

She added that so many babies were inside the NICU when the fire broke out and it seemed like the babies did not survive.

"Some babies couldn't be rescued. It's unclear if they were burned or saved. No one knows what happened to the children," Santoshi added as she continued to desperately look for her "first baby".

She added that the hospital did not allow her to see her baby before the fire broke out.

"After the fire, I couldn't even look for my baby properly. I searched, but I didn't find him," Santoshi said.

As the tragic incident unfolded, many families are still asking for information about their infants, moreover, some are uncertain about the fate of their babies.

'Go in and take your children'

Rani Sen, a resident of Narayan Bagh in Jhansiand aunt of a baby who was in the NICU during the fire, has been searching for answers since the incident.

"It is being said my child is dead, but no one has told me on what basis," she said, adding, "After the fire, they were saying, 'Go in and take your children.' But by then, many of the children had already died in the fire."

She further questioned the identification process used by the hospital.

"They say it's based on the tags on the children. If the identification is based on tags, what about the child I found, who had no tag? I admitted that child under my name to Dr Kuldeep Trivedi's care in the ICU, and he is safe now. But that child is not mine. I informed them of this as well," she told ANI.

She then asked for proof of her baby's death and called for a DNA test to identify the victims.

"If I hadn't told them I had someone else's child, would they even know it wasn't mine?" she asked.

Rani then urged the authorities to let parents identify their children. "All the children in Jhansi's hospitals should be brought in, and parents should be allowed to identify their own children. If anyone can't identify their child, then a DNA test should be done," she said.

Watch |Jhansi Tragedy: CM Yogi Seeks Fire Probe Report In 24 Hours

'Whoever managed to get inside, saved their child'

A grandmother from Rajgarh, whose 20-25-day-old grandchild was in the NICU, spoke about her ordeal, saying that as the fire broke out, there were some people who managed to get inside, grab their child.

"My child was in the ICU, and as soon as the fire broke out, everyone rushed. The nurses were pushing people out, not allowing anyone to go inside. When people somehow managed to get inside, whoever could grab a child did so. Some broke in through the windows. My child hasn't been found yet," she said.

(With inputs from agencies)