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In a NICU hospital fire, a father breaks a window to save seven infants, but he is unable to save his twin daughters.

In order to address their twin girls’ respiratory problems, Yakoob Mansuri and his spouse traveled to Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College.

Mansuri hurried to the NICU after learning of the fire, broke a window, and saved seven infants, but he was unable to save his twins.

“Even in our worst nightmares, we never thought we would see our babies in the state they were in at the post-mortem house,” Mansuri told reporters.

In the horrific hospital fire in India that killed ten newborns this weekend, a father was able to save seven babies, but he was unable to save his twin daughters.

Yakoob Mansuri, 27, was reportedly outside the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College,

where his newborn twin daughters were receiving treatment, in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh state, on Friday, November 15, according to Indian news outlets India Today, National Herald, and The Economic Times.

A mother at the hospital’s sick newborn care unit (SNCU) reportedly screamed about a fire as she was nursing her infant, according to the National Herald.

According to India Today, Mansuri hurried to the NICU unit at that point and broke a window to get inside. He remembered, “It was a massive fire that no one could brave,” the outlet said.

“The fire was so intense that I was unable to enter the ward where my daughters were admitted,” Mansuri said. “Other parents made an effort as well, but they were unsuccessful.

After that, we began saving babies from other wards. I removed seven kids. “There was only a small opening to the inner unit of the SNCU,” Mansuri said in his account of the terrifying event to the National Herald.

It’s hardly big enough for one person to pass through. Within minutes, we were feeling queasy. How could the infants have put up with it?

On Saturday, November 16, the remains of Mansuri’s twin girls were subsequently recognized, according to The Economic Times.

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Initially, Mansuri and his spouse had taken their twins to the hospital for specialist treatment due to respiratory problems.

He told the National Herald, “We never thought, not even in our worst nightmares, that we would see our babies in the state they were in at the post-mortem house.”

Forty-five of the 55 infants receiving treatment in the NICU at the time of the fire were saved, according to the Associated Press, which cited authorities.

There were sixteen injuries in addition to the ten fatalities. According to authorities, the fire may have been caused by an electrical short circuit or a malfunction in an equipment.

That was used to increase the oxygen levels in the NICU, as reported by BBC News.

Such safety flaws, such as non-functioning fire alarms and expired fire extinguishers, hindered rescue operations, officials said based on an early probe, according to the AP.

Brajesh Pathak, the deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, discussed the tragedy in a post on X (formerly Twitter), writing on November 15:

“It is very sad and heartbreaking that so many newborn babies died in the unfortunate accident of fire in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (SNCU Ward) of Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, Jhansi today.”

A nursing home fire claimed the lives of ten people. Authorities Say It Was “Due to Smoke Inhalation”.

Pathak also visited the scene of the catastrophe and had conversations with the relatives of the children hurt in the fire.

A three-tiered inquiry into the fire will also be conducted, he said on X, adding: “The fire department will also investigate.” In addition, directives have been issued for a magistrate to investigate the occurrence.

Additionally, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X that the children’s deaths were “heartbreaking.”

“Those who have lost their innocent children in this tragedy have my sincerest sympathies. Modi tweeted, “The local administration, under the supervision of the state government, is making every possible effort for relief and rescue.”

“I pray to God to give them the strength to bear this immense loss,” he added. On Monday, November 18, PEOPLE reached out to Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College for a response.