Pakistan suspends eight officials over hospital fire killing 14 babies

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday ordered the suspension of eight senior officials and directed criminal proceedings against them following a fire that killed 14 newborn babies in a hospital nursery in the capital, Islamabad. The action came after an investigative committee presented its interim report on the tragedy at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, or PIMS. The fire broke out early on Wednesday, August 26, in the neonatal ward of the hospital's Mother and Child Healthcare Centre. According to the inquiry, a spark ignited inside the nursery shortly before 7 a.m. local time, and the flames spread rapidly through oxygen outlets connected to incubators.