Six children have died in a single ward due to a gas leak in the air conditioning (AC) at Ad-Din Hospital in the capital's Moghbazar.
The incident occurred late Tuesday.
Sheikh Jahidul Islam, deputy police commissioner of Ramna Division at DMP, confirmed the matter and said that an investigation into the incident was already underway.
Initially, it was learned that a fault occurred in the AC system in a ward of the hospital. From there, a gas leak occurred. After that, the condition of the children undergoing treatment in that ward deteriorated, and at one stage, six children died.
Tariqul Islam Mukul, director (administration) of Ad-Din Hospital, said that he came to know that the incident happened on Tuesday night.
He also said that he would give the details after going to the hospital.
The grandmother of one of the children complained that if the doctors could not handle the situation, they should have been asked to go to another hospital.
She said that she was informed that her granddaughter had been taken to the ICU and that she had spent thousands of Taka on medicine. But after waiting for hours, she found out that the child was no longer alive.
She also complained that there were not enough doctors and nurses in the ward at night. The children were crying all night and were falling ill one by one.
Another mother who lost her child said that almost all the children in the ward were crying and vomiting at night. None of them understood what was happening.
When the child's condition worsened in the morning, he was taken out. Later, after being taken to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the doctors initially reassured her, but after some time, the child's death was reported.
Regarding the deaths, the hospital's director Dr Nahida Yeasmin said that there were 11 mothers and six children in the post-delivery ward. When two children fell ill at first, they were taken to the NICU.
Later, they were sent back to the ward. When the children fell ill again around 6 am, they were taken to the NICU. Later, they were put on ventilation, but they could not be saved, she added.
DMP Commissioner Mosleh Uddin Ahmed said that 11 mothers, including six newborn babies, were staying in the post-operative room.
The mother of one newborn baby requested to turn off the AC as she felt cold. Later, the nurse turned off the AC for about an hour. Then, when the AC was turned on again because it was hot, two children fell ill. After a while, the remaining four children also fell ill. Later, six children died while undergoing treatment, he further stated.
He also said that a team from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was working at the scene.
Evidence is being collected. Details will be announced later, he added.