NEW DELHI  -   Six newborn babies have died after a fire tore through a children’s hospital in the Indian capital, with people charging into the flames to rescue the infants, police said Sunday. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the fire and deaths “heart-rending” in a post on social media. The fire department was called after flames tore through the hospital in Delhi late Saturday evening. But in the crucial first minutes, it was bystanders who spotted the fire and braved the blaze to rescue the newborns. “All the 12 newborn babies were rescued from the hospital with the help of other people,” senior police officer Surendra Choudhary said in a statement.

, but added that by the time they reached medical attention, six were dead.

The blaze in the hospital broke out hours after a separate fire at an amusement park in India’s western state of Gujarat left 27 dead, including four children.

In that fire -- which ripped through a centre with a bowling alley and other games crowded with youngsters -- police warned that many of the corpses were so badly burned it was difficult to identify them.

Fires are common in India due to poor building practices, overcrowding and a lack of adherence to safety regulations.

Four children among 27 dead in India amusement park fire

Four young children were among 27 people killed when a fire in India ripped through a crowded amusement park, a top local official said Sunday, as rescuers scoured the site the morning after the blaze.

Survivors reported having to kick down doors and leap out of windows to escape the inferno that swept through a centre packed full of young people enjoying games including bowling, Indian media reported on Sunday.

Lines of bodies draped in white cloths were laid out before being taken away from the centre in Rajkot, a city in the western state of Gujarat.

The four children reported dead were all aged under 12, said police, who warned that many of the corpses were so badly burned it was difficult to identify them.

Outside the still-smouldering wreckage, the mother and sister of 20-year-old Asha Kathad -- who had worked in the centre -- waited for news.

They held up a photograph of Asha on a mobile phone.

“We don’t have any information about her,”  Asha’s mother told local reporters, too distraught to give her full name as she wept.