Dhaka, April 19 -- The B-Block of Dhaka Shishu (Children) Hospital was filled with smoke when panicked parents were evacuating their children to safety during the fire incident on Friday afternoon.

Mohammad Shahjahan had an oxygen cylinder on his shoulder as he was rushing down the stairs.

His niece was receiving treatment on the third floor, but taken outside after the fire started on the fourth floor. The child needed oxygen support but the main oxygen line closed after the fire incident.

At the hospital premises outside the main building, visibly distraught parents and relatives gathered with the children in their arms or laps amid intense heat. The child patients, already suffering from diseases, lay still. Some were crying.

The f...