SII, the world's biggest vaccine manufacture in the
The blaze at an under-construction building of the SII facility claimed five lives before firefighters brought the flames under control.
"We have recovered five bodies. Nine were rescued. The cause of the fire is not known as yet,"
He said the rescue operation was still on even as the fire was under control after about half a dozen firefighters were pressed into service.
Pictures and video purportedly from the SII facility showed columns of smoke billowing out from the building.
He said he "deeply saddened and offer our deepest condolences to the family members of the departed."
"I would like to reassure all governments (and) 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 (the
"The fire was in the department that develops the BCG vaccine. Now, the situation is under control," Thackeray told reporters in regional capital
"Prima facie it seems that the fire was caused by an electric fault."
SII is developing the
The pharma is developing some 60 million doses of Covishield a month and plans to spike its production to 100 million doses by March.
It has also signed an agreement to supply Covax, which is backed by the
Last week it distributed some 5.6 million doses to at least twelve locations in the country as a preliminary step to begin the national vaccination campaign in
Fires, landslides, and other similar accidents are common in
According to official data, there were more than 13,000 fires in
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