President Macky Sall of Senegal stated on Wednesday that 11 newborn babies perished in a fire at a rural hospital in Tivaouane, around 120 kilometers (74.56 miles) east of the city, Dakar.

“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,” Sall said in a tweet without giving further details about the fire.

“To their mothers and their families, I express my deepest sympathy,” Sall, who is on an official visit in Angola, continued.

Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, Senegal’s health minister, reported on private Senegalese television TFM that “according to preliminary investigation, a short circuit triggered the fire.”

Sarr, who is now in Geneva for the World Health Assembly, said that he will cut his trip short and make it back to Senegal as soon as possible.