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A mother mourns the loss of her baby outside the hospital in Tivaouane, Senegal
Photo: REUTERS
A fire at a maternity ward in western Senegal, in the town of Tivaouane, killed eleven babies on Wednesday.
Senegal's President Macky Sall tweeted that he learned of it "with pain and dismay."
According to Mayor Demba Diop, the fire at the Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh clinic was caused by a short circuit at night.
The fire spread very quickly, Diop said.
According to him, three babies were saved.
The hospital had only recently been inaugurated, as reported by the local press.
The city of Tivaouane is located 120 kilometers northeast of the Senegalese capital Dakar.
Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, who was in Geneva for a meeting with the World Health Organization, immediately announced his return trip.
"This situation is very unfortunate and extremely painful," he said on the radio.
"An investigation is underway to find out what happened."
Several fatal incidents in hospitals
Fatal incidents in public hospitals are common in Senegal.
The West African country is known for having some of the best hospitals in the region.
Just about a year ago, four newborns died in a hospital fire in the northern town of Linguere.
The mayor had given a malfunction in an air conditioning system in the maternity ward as the cause of the fire.
Earlier this month, authorities discovered a living baby in a mortuary who had been pronounced dead by a nurse.
It later died.
Last year, a pregnant woman died in Louga, in the north of the country, after waiting in vain for a cesarean.
Amnesty International's Senegalese director Seydi Gassama said his organization had called for an inspection and improvement of maternity wards in hospitals across the country following the death of the four babies in Linguere.
In view of the renewed tragedy, he called on the government to set up an independent commission of inquiry.
taf/dpa/AFP/AP
