Lucky escape for some at Serum Institute
India
Published: Friday, January 22, 2021, 9:13 [IST]
Pune, Jan 22: Some contractual workers had a lucky escape as they ran to safety in time when a fire broke out in an under-construction building at the Serum Institute of India (SII) premises here on Thursday afternoon.
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Avinash Kumar, one of the contractual labourers working in the five-storey building at the time of the incident, said moment the fire broke out he along with some others quickly ran away and saved their lives. Moment we saw smoke emanating from somewhere in the building, we escaped from the floor where we were working, said Kumar.
5 dead in fire at Pune s Serum Institute of India: What we know so far
AFP Photo
Five labourers were killed, while four others were evacuated after a major fire broke out at the Serum Institute of India s (SII), SEZ 3 building, Manjari plant in Pune, on Thursday afternoon. The cause of fire is being investigated, said Pune fire brigade officials.
The fire call was received at around 2.45 pm after which 10 fire tenders and at least two jumbo tankers were rushed to the spot, said Prashant Ranpise, Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
The five deceased whose charred corpses were recovered from inside the building have been identified as Rama Shankar Harijan and Bipin Saroj from Uttar Pradesh, Sushil Kumar Pandey from Bihar, Mahendra Ingale and Pratik Pashte from Pune. All five were contractual labourers and were involved in electrical works at the building, said the fire brigade officials.