At least 15 infants killed in hospital fire in Islamabad, Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - At least 15 infants were killed when a fire broke out at a state-run hospital in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, triggered by a fault in air conditioning systems, local broadcaster Geo TV reported on Wednesday.

The blaze started around 7 a.m. (0200 GMT) at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), on the third floor of the hospital's mother and child health ward, the broadcaster said.

The incident is among the deadliest hospital fires in recent years in the country, where government healthcare is subsidised but facilities are under-resourced and overburdened while watchdogs have frequently criticised state-run facilities as mismanaged.

There were 16 newborns in the ward when the fire broke out, one of whom was rescued, Geo reported.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed authorities to conduct an immediate investigation, his office said.

"Those responsible should be identified, and the strictest action should be taken," Sharif's office said in a statement.

The ward was cordoned off and ambulances were seen outside the hospital building, according to a Reuters witness.

PIMS, centrally located in Islamabad where former Prime Minister Imran Khan was briefly treated last week, is one of the main public hospitals of the city.

-Reporting by Rick Noack and Akhtar Soomro, Writing by Hritam Mukherjee; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Saad Sayeed/Reuters