JAKARTA - Senegalese President Macky Sall said 11 newborns died in a fire at a hospital in Tivaouane City, about 120 km east of the Senegalese capital Dakar.
"It is with sadness and worry that I have just learned about the deaths of 11 newborns in a fire that broke out in the neonatology department at Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh Hospital in Tivaouane," the president wrote on Twitter.
"To the mother and family of (the baby), I extend my deepest sympathy," said the president, who is on a state visit to Angola.
Senegal's Minister of Health Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr on the Senegalese private TV station TFM said that "According to initial investigations, a short circuit was the cause of the fire."
The Minister of Health, who is currently attending the World Health Assembly in Geneva, said he would shorten his visit and return home soon.
The mayor of Tivaouane, one of Senegal's holiest cities and transportation hub, Demba Diop Sy, said police and fire services were still at the hospital concerned.
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