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MUMBAI: Five people were killed when a fire tore through a building in the world’s largest vaccine production center in western India on Thursday (January 21), authorities said.
“Five people have died,” Pune City Mayor Murlidhar Mohol told reporters after the fire at the Serum Institute of India.
Rescue teams discovered five bodies in the building that was under construction after the fire was brought under control, media reports said, but the company insisted its production of drugs to counter the coronavirus pandemic was unaffected.
“We are deeply saddened and offer our condolences to the families of the deceased,” tweeted Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the firm, without providing further details.
Smoke rises after a fire broke out at the Serum Institute of India in Pune on January 21, 2021 (Photo: AFP).
Firefighters try to control a fire that broke out at the Serum Institute of India in Pune on January 21, 2021. (Photo: AFP)
Television channels showed thick clouds of gray smoke billowing from the site in Pune, western India.
The Serum Institute is producing millions of doses of the Covishield coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
In January, Indian regulators approved two vaccines: Covishield, produced by the Serum Institute, and Covaxin, manufactured by local firm Bharat Biotech.
India began one of the largest vaccine launches in the world on Saturday, aiming to vaccinate 300 million people by July with Covishield and Covaxin.
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Many other countries rely on the Serum Institute to supply the vaccine.
India exported its first batch on Wednesday to Bhutan and the Maldives, followed by two million doses to Bangladesh and one million to Nepal.
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The country plans to offer 20 million doses to its South Asian neighbors, with Latin America, Africa and Central Asia next.
The Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine maker by volume, also plans to supply 200 million doses to Covax, an effort supported by the World Health Organization to procure and distribute vaccines to poor countries.
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