President Macky Sall of Senegal announced on Wednesday that eleven newborns perished in a fire in the neonatal ward of a regional hospital in Tivaouane, some 120 kilometers east of the capital city of Dakar.

Sall said in a tweet, "I have just learned with pain and consternation the death of 11 newborn babies in the fire that occurred in the neonatology department of the Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh hospital in Tivaouane," He did not elaborate on the incident.

"To their mothers and their families, I express my deepest sympathy," Sall, who was on a state visit to Angola, said.

Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, the health minister of Senegal, stated on Senegalese private television TFM that "according to preliminary investigation, a short circuit triggered the fire."

Sarr, who was in Geneva for the World Health Assembly, announced that he would immediately return to Senegal.

Demba Diop Sy, the mayor of Tivaouane, one of Senegal's holiest cities and a major transportation center, stated that police and fire service were still at the hospital. Still, he did not provide any other information.