Vijaywada (Andhra Pradesh), Nov 16 : Six newborn babies died under mysterious circumstances at the infants'' ward of a state-run hospital here.

The parents accused the hospital staff of being callous and alleged that their children died due to the failure of incubators.

"We were informed by the hospital authorities that there was blood outside the ears of the baby but when we went to see, the blood was not there and also we were informed very late about the death of the baby," said Venkateshwar, a parent.

The hospital authorities have put the blame on the non-working ventilator system inside the hospital for the deaths.

"There was not any ventilator in the hospital, the only one that is there has not been installed," said Joint Collector Ramaih.

The authorities have nevertheless probed an inquiry into the deaths.

Krishna district collector Peeyush Kumar has ordered an inquest into the matter to find out whether failure of the incubators led to the deaths.

The Resident Medical Officer of the hospital P Ramagopal said they were inquiring into the genuine reason of the death of the babies.

Telugu Desam Party MLA Devineni Umamaheswara Rao visited the hospital and held the doctors responsible for the deaths. Local MLA Malladi Vishnu of the Congress too visited the hospital.

Nine newborn babies are currently in incubators and the condition of one of them is reported to be critical. (ANI)