Fire breaks out in Maharashtra hospital, 9 newborns safely evacuated

A fire broke out in the NICU of a private hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, prompting the evacuation of nine newborns. The incident ended without injuries, offering relief amid fresh concerns over neonatal ward safety in Maharashtra.9 newborns were evacuated safely after fire erupted at an NICU in a Maharashtra hospital.Nine newborns were safely evacuated and shifted to other hospitals after a fire broke out in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a private hospital in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Friday. There were no injuries or casualties, the hospital administration said.The incident occurred at Asian Hospital after staff noticed smoke coming from an air-conditioning unit in the NICU, where nine babies requiring intensive or specialised care were admitted.Shoeb Hashmi, who runs the hospital, said staff acted immediately and evacuated the newborns along with patients from the adjoining general ward as a precaution."It was a small incident, and nothing untoward happened. As a precaution, our team evacuated the infants along with the patients in the neighbouring general ward," he said. The patients in the general ward were later brought back, while the nine newborns were shifted to other hospitals with the consent of their families.Hashmi said the situation was brought under control promptly and there were no injuries. He added that the hospital had been cleaned and was functioning normally. The officer in charge of Jawaharnagar police station confirmed that a fire had been reported at the hospital and said there were no injuries or casualties.The incident comes around 10 days after a deadly NICU fire at the District Women's Hospital in Amravati, where three newborns died, and 36 others were rescued.The Maharashtra government subsequently ordered a high-level enquiry into the incident.- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 4, 2026 14:25 IST