Three newborn babies died on Monday evening following a fire which broke out in Giulesti Maternity, in Bucharest, and eight babies with severe and medium burns had to be evacuated to Grigore Alexandrescu Hospital, announced Under secretary of state with the Ministry of Health Raed Arafat.
According to him, Grigore Alexandrescu Children Hospital was in alert, the entire personnel mobilized in order to take over the extremely serious cases of burnt newborn babies. Following the explosion in Giulesti Maternity 113 people had to be evacuated, 53 babies and 60 women, announced on Monday night in a press declaration Dr. Bogdan Oprita, coordinator of the Emergency Mobile Rescue Service – SMURD Bucharest, spokesman of Floreasca Hospital.
In his turn, Bucharest deputy mayor Victor Iovici stated that the causes of the fire are still to be established. An explosion followed by a fire broke out on Monday evening, at around 6.40 p.m. local time, in the Intensive Care Department for newborn babies in Giulesti Maternity.
„When we came out of the building a thick smoke was engulfing it and when the emergency teams arrived they assessed a fire was spreading on a surface of 20-30 square meters. The fire fighters intervened immediately at the second floor – the Intensive Care Department for premature babies”, stressed spokesperson of the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (ISU) Anca Onofrei.