Fire kills 5 on Serum Institute of India’s Pune campus; Covishield production not affected

Video: Fire breaks out at Covishield-maker Serum Institute’s campus in Pune, five fire tenders pressed into service pic.twitter.com/9ru4r8AoLy

— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) January 21, 2021

The bodies of the five have been taken to Pune’s Sassoon hospital. Mayor Mohol said, “Preliminary information, which is yet to be confirmed, suggests that these five persons were workers employed by a contractor. There are reports that the fire started at the place where welding work in the new building was on.”

Late evening, another minor fire was reported from the campus. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced he will visit the SII unit tomorrow to take stock of the situation.

Serum Institute has announced a sum of Rs 25 lakh each for the families of the five deceased. “We are deeply saddened and offer our condolences to the families of the departed. In this regard, we will be offering a compensation of INR 25 lakhs to each of the families, in addition to the mandated amount as per the norms,” the SII said in a statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condoled the loss of lives in the fire. “Anguished by the loss of lives due to an unfortunate fire at the Serum Institute of India. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives. I pray that those injured recover at the earliest,” he said in a tweet.

Anguished by the loss of lives due to an unfortunate fire at the @SerumInstIndia. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives. I pray that those injured recover at the earliest.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 21, 2021

Meanwhile, a fire brigade official said the fire was reported on the fifth floor of the new building on the Manjari campus. “As per our knowledge, the building is not directly connected to Covishield manufacturing,” he said.

Corroborating this, SII factory manager Vivek Pradhan said the floor where the fire broke out was a rota-virus lab. “There is no stock of Covishield,” he said.

“The fire was brought under control at 4.15 pm. Cooling operations, in which water is used to reduce the increased temperature on the premises, are currently on. A total of nine people who were trapped have been rescued,” Prashant Ranpise, the Chief Fire Officer with Pune City Fire Brigade, had said earlier.

Poonawalla said “there would be no loss of Covishield production” due to multiple production buildings kept in reserve.

He tweeted: “I would like to reassure all governments & the public that there would be no loss of #COVISHIELD production due to multiple production buildings that I had kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies at @SerumInstIndia. Thank you very much @PuneCityPolice & Fire Department

— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) January 21, 2021

A total of 10 fire tenders have been deployed by the fire department.

A total of 10 fire tenders, a hydraulic lift and other equipment were deployed to bring the fire under control. A team from the 5th Battalion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) stationed at Talegaon near Pune was also sent to the spot.

The fire broke out between 2:30- 2:45 PM.

India has approved two vaccines — Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech, and Covishield from the Oxford/AstraZeneca stable, being manufactured by Pune-headquartered Serum Institute of India.