Serum Institute of India (SII) Chairman & Managing Director Cyrus Poonawalla on Thursday expressed sorrow on the loss of lives due to the fire that broke out at its under-construction facility in Pune. He said that the company will be offering a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to each of the families of the deceased, in addition to the mandated amount as per the norms.
"Today is an extremely sorrowful day for all of us at Serum Institute of India. Regrettably, there were losses of lives in the fire that broke out in our under installation facility situated at the Special Economic Zone at Manjri," Poonawalla said in a statement.
"We are deeply saddened and offer our condolences to the families of the departed. In this regard, we will be offering a compensation of INR 25 lakhs to each of the families, in addition to the mandated amount as per the norms. We would like to extend our gratitude to everyone for their concerns and prayers in these distressing times," he added.
Earlier in the day, at least five workers were killed in the fire that broke out at SII's plant at Manjri in Pune. The plant is spread over 100 acres of area in the city.
SII is manufacturing the Covishield vaccine for COVID-19, developed by the Oxford University and AstraZeneca. It is one of the two vaccines that have been granted emergency approval in India.
Earlier, SII CEO Adar Poonawalla, in a tweet, had reassured all governments and public that there would be no loss of Covishield production due to multiple production buildings that had been kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies.
Later in another tweet, he said, "We have just received some distressing updates; upon further investigation we have learnt that there has unfortunately been some loss of life at the incident. We are deeply saddened and offer our deepest condolences to the family members of the departed."