Five infants in a hospital incubation unit in northern India have burnt to death when the facility caught fire, media reports said.
The three boys and two girls were being treated for jaundice in the state-run facility in the northern city of Patiala in Punjab state, the United News of India (PTI) news agency reported.
Three other babies suffered burns while two were rescued unharmed, the report said.
The infants ranged in age from three to eight days, the report said.
Senior police official Gurmit Singh Chauhan blamed the fire on a possible electrical short circuit, PTI said.
Distraught parents and relatives struggled to rescue the infants but the flames swiftly engulfed the unit, preventing them from reaching the children.
The incubation unit was a makeshift one and medical staff were not present at the time of the accident, reports said.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has ordered an inquiry into the accident and announced a payment of 100,000 rupees [about A$2000] to each bereaved family.
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