At least 14 babies have been killed following a fire at a maternity ward at hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan. The blaze is alleged to have been caused by a fault in an air conditioning system, local broadcaster Geo TV reported on Wednesday. The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences' (PIMS) nursery housed at least 15 newborns when the fire broke out, hospital officials said. Newborns who died in the blaze were badly burnt and will have to be identified using DNA tests, local police said. The children can only be returned to their parents once the DNA tests have been done, they said in a statement amid parents' demands to return the babies' bodies immediately. The inferno began at around 6.45am local time after an air conditioning unit exploded inside the nursery, which is a part of the gynaecology ward. Firefighters rushed to the scene to extinguish the blaze and bring it under control, as well as to evacuate patients and secure the impacted area.At least 19 people were rescued from the blaze - ten women, seven children and two men, emergency responders said. At least 14 babies have been killed following a fire at a maternity ward at hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan Samiullah, father of a newborn victim, is consoled following a deadly fire, in the nursery which is part of the gynecology ward The blaze is said to have been caused by a fault in an air conditioning system, local broadcaster Geo TV reported on Wednesday Javeria, mother of a newborn victim, is consoled following a deadly fire at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS Security personnel stand guard following the fire at one of the leading hospitals in Pakistan At least one baby was rescued by a doctor, according to a hospital spokesperson quoted by local media.The infants in the ward were either in incubators or hooked on oxygen equipment, Health Minister Mustafa Kamal told Geo News. The fire is now understood to be extinguished, while those who have been injured have been taken to the ICU. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed 'deep sorrow and heartfelt regret' over the hospital fire and has ordered an 'immediate investigation'. 'Such a situation with children is irreparable,' he said in a statement, later sharing that his 'heartfelt condolences to the families of the innocent children.'Mr Sharif also said 'his heart is saddened by this tragic incident'.Islamabad's District Magistrate has launched a fact-finding committee to probe the incident and is required to release a report 'within 24 hours', an official document detailed. The committee will 'ascertain the facts and determine the facts that caused the fire'. Officials have not yet confirmed the cause of the fire.Outside the hospital - which is one of the biggest public hospitals in the country - people were in tears as workers cleared shards of glass from two broken windows.It comes amid a poor track record of fire safety in the country, coupled with a lack of regulatory enforcement. Fires in large buildings are frequent in Pakistan, often due to poor safety laws and building codes as well as lax enforcement. Three months before the fire at the country's leading hospital, at least 43 were injured in a blaze at a Pakistan Customs warehouse in Balochistan province. Javeria, mother of a newborn victim, is consoled following a deadly fire at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences A worker removes broken pieces of a glass window after a fire broke out at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Workers remove shards of broken windows following a fire incident outside the Mother and Child Health (MCH) wardMeanwhile, last January, 67 were killed in an inferno which engulfed shops and warehouses at the Gul Plaza in Karachi. The multi-storey plaza, located in the Saddar area of the city, housed 1,200 shops - and the blaze which ripped through it took a week for firefighters to subdue. Last November, 18 workers were killed, and a further 21 were injured after an explosion at a glue-making factory in Faisalabad, in the Punjab province of the city.The factory's manager was arrested while the owner was being hunted by authorities after fleeing, police said. In 2021, at least 16 workers died after a factory fire in Karachi.In 2012, at least 250 labourers died at a garment factory in Baldia Town, in western Karachi, when a fire engulfed the facility. The building had no fire escape. This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.