On Friday, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray arrived in Pune to take stock of the situation at vaccine maker Serum Institute of India after five workers were killed in a fire (on Thursday). Top officials from fire wings of three Maharashtra government agencies have launched a probe to ascertain the cause of the blaze.

Heads of fire departments of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) are part of the joint probe team. Five contractual labourers had died in the fire which broke out in a five-storeyed under-construction building in the Serum Institute of India’s Manjari premises (on Thursday). The fire damaged the top two floors of the building located in ‘SEZ 3’ area of the premises of the vaccine major.

A day after the blaze at the Serum Institute of India (SII) killed five people, CEO Adar Poonawalla said that the fire had caused damage worth more than Rs 1,000 crore, affecting the Rotavirus and BCG vaccine manufacturing and storage unit. Poonawalla, however, reiterated that the fire did not hit the supply of Covidshield, one of India’s Covid-19 vaccines.

According to Poonawala, the building that caught fire was a new structure, where additional product building capacity was being developed. He elaborated, “It did not have any stock or production. It is a brand new facility. Installation of equipment was underway there, which is what perhaps led to the incident. What we have lost is future production.”

The fire had engulfed three upper floors of a newly-constructed six-storey building inside one of the campuses of Serum Institute of India, which is a key player in the global supplies of vaccines against the novel coronavirus. All five people who died in the fire were contractual welding and air-conditioning workers. SII has announced a compensation of Rs. 25 lakh per victim, for the families of those who lost their lives in the blaze.

Poonawala, who initially had tweeted saying that no lives were lost in the fire, also spoke about the confusion over the deaths. “There was initial confusion because we did not know about the workers of the contractors. When we got an initial report that there has been no loss of life, we were relieved and hence I sent out a tweet. But later, after clearing of smoke, the bodies were discovered. We did not have a complete list of the third-party workers and did not know how many were working at the site. Once I got to know about the tragic deaths of the workers, I sent out another message to condole the deaths. My father also announced financial aid for their families,” he said.

The company announced the compensation in addition to the mandated amount as per the norm.

The fire began between 1.45 pm and 2.15 pm, according to police and Fire Brigade officials, and was brought under control by 4.30 pm. At least ten fire tenders, four additional water tankers, and other equipment had to be deployed. More than 70 fire personnel were involved in the operation.

The Serum Institute is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer in terms of the number of doses produced and sold globally (more than 1.5 billion doses). The institute manufactures vaccine doses for polio, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, among others.