At least 10 newborns have died from burns and suffocation after a fire broke out in the neonatal ward of a hospital in north India.

Sixteen others are in critical condition following the blaze on Friday night at the state-run Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College Hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi district.

Investigators have suggested the cause could have been a short circuit in an oxygen concentrator machine.

The fire spread rapidly due to the highly oxygenated environment – created by the concentrator – and engulfed the neonatal intensive care unit on the ground floor.

Hospital staff said they managed to break into the ward and rescue 44 infants, of whom at least 16 were in critical condition. All of the victims were less than a year old and had been on life support.