NEW DELHI — Thirty children have died at a public hospital in India over the past two days, with government critics blaming a shortage of oxygen after a supplier of liquid oxygen cut off deliveries because of unpaid bills.

Government officials were scurrying to explain what had happened, admitting that the state-run hospital owed more than $50,000 to a supplier of liquid oxygen and that oxygen supplies had been “disrupted.”

“There was some payment issue to the oxygen supplier, and there was a shortage of liquid oxygen,” said Anil Kumar, the commissioner of the city of Gorakhpur. But, he added, “those deaths were not due to lack of oxygen.”

Other officials said the hospital had a backup oxygen supply, though they did not explain why so many children had died in such a short time. Since Monday, a total of 60 children have died at the hospital, many from acute encephalitis and others in the neonatal unit.