5 dead as fire breaks out at Serum facility
Officials said at least four people were rescued from SII’S Manjari premises in an operation spanning over an hour to bring the fire under control and save those trapped
work related to electricity; two of them from Uttar Pradesh, one from Bihar and two from Pune, according to according to Manjari legislator Chetan Tupe. Their bodies were found on the fifth floor of the building called MSEZ-03. Later in the day, SII announced an ex-gratia payment of ₹25 lakh each for the families of the deceased.
“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,” Poonawalla said in another tweet.
His organisation is manufacturing the Covid-19 vaccine by Oxford University and Britishswedish pharmaceutical firm Astrazeneca in India, where the world’s largest inoculation drive began on January 16 thanks to SII’S Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s indigenously produced Covaxin.
India is also shipping Covishield to its neighbours, strengthening them in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Seven countries – Bhutan, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Seychelles, Myanmar and Mauritius – are part of India’s initial rollout of vaccines as grant assistance.
On Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was anguished by the loss of lives. “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 tweeted.
Television visuals showed huge plumes of smoke billowing from the building as firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze.
“Fire at Serum Institute of India in Pune has been brought under control...i have been informed that the Covid vaccine manufacturing plant is safe,” chief minister Uddhav Thackeray told the media during an interaction at a guest house at Malabar Hill on Mumbai’s suburbs on Thursday evening.
Thackeray will visit the Manjari facility on Friday noon, according to Pune district officials.
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said directives “have been issued to the Pune police commissioner for a detailed investigation into the incident”.