Three babies killed in Romania hospital explosion

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Three newborn babies were killed in a Romanian maternity ward on Monday in an explosion caused by an electrical fault, a senior health official said.

Eight babies were severely burnt in the explosion following a glitch in the hospital's air-conditioning system, said Deputy Health Minister Raed Arafat.

"It's very sad. Three babies in the intensive care department at the Giulesti maternity ward (in Bucharest) have died," Arafat, also chief of the emergency services, told private television station Antena 3.

Romania is one of the European Union's poorest countries and its medical services are considered among the worst in the bloc. Safety and hygiene standards remain little changed since communist times at many of its medical facilities.

Arafat said rescuers discovered the injured babies in the intensive care department, adding they had been sent to an emergency hospital while their mothers were admitted to other medical units.

Dan George Enescu, head of the Bucharest children hospital, described the babies' condition as "extremely critical".

"Those prematurely born babies have burns covering 70-80 percent of their bodies ... It is too much for them. They are just five days old," he said.

Television footage showed dozens of family members huddling outside at the gates of the maternity hospital, begging for information on the state of the babies.