Serum Institute fire kills five workers

At least five were killed in a fire that tore through India’s Covid-19 vaccine producer Serum Institute of India (SII) on Thursday. The deaths were confirmed by Pune district collector Rajesh Deshmukh three hours after the fire engulfed vaccine production unit.

The five people who were killed are: Rama Shankar Harijan, Bipin Saroj (both resident of UP), Sushil Kumar Pandey (resident of Bihar), and Mahendra Ingle and Pratik Pashte (both resident of Pune).

Maharashtra CM UddhavThackeray spoke to Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla over phone. The CM will visit the SII on Friday.

All are contractual labourers were doing electrical works. The mayor of Pune Murlidhar Mohol said that the five people who died, were perhaps the workers at the under-construction building. “The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained but it is being speculated that welding, that was going on at the building, caused the fire,” Mohol said.

The state health minister Rajesh Tope said that the fire was caused by welding sparks at the construction site at the SII. “The inflammable material at the site aggravated the fire,” Tope said.

As the smoke filled the building, authorities rushed and evacuated nine people trapped inside in the Serum Institute of India’s Manjari premises, police said.

SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said there would be no loss in vaccine manufacturing because the company has other available facilities.

“Thank you everyone for your concern and prayers. So far, the most important thing is that there have been no lives lost or major injuries due to the fire, despite a few floors being destroyed,” Poonawalla tweeted.

The fire, which broke out at 2.45 pm on the fourth and fifth floors of the SEZ 3 building in the Serum Institute premises, was brought under control in two hours, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Namrata Patil said that nine people were evacuated from the spot after the fire broke out.

Viral visuals from the site showed smoke billowing out from the Serum Institute facility.

Chief Fire Officer Prashant Ranpise said cooling work has commenced at the spot. As many as 15 water tankers were pressed into action and the fire was brought under control around 4.30 pm, he said.

Serum Institute of India is the world’s largest maker of vaccines and has been contracted to manufacture a billion doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine. Of the more than 12 billion coronavirus vaccine doses expected to be produced this year, rich countries have already bought about 9 billion, and many have options to buy even more. As a result, Serum Institute is likely to make most of the vaccines that will be used by developing nations.