PUNE, Jan 21: Five employees were burnt to death in a major fire at the Serum Institute of India (SII) building in Pune on Thursday. The fire occurred at a new building in Manjri in the Special Economic Zone three km away from the main complex in Hadaspar.

The five were found dead on the 5th floor of the building. They were contractual workers involved in air-conditioning insulation work. The fire broke out at 2.45 pm on the fourth and fifth floors of the building. It was brought under control in two hours by the fire brigade. The cause of the fire is not known.

Sources said the incident has not affected the manufacture of covid vaccine Covishield as its unit is in the main complex in Hadaspar.

SII CEO Adar Poonawalla announced Rs 25 lakh relief to the families of the dead.

Poonawalla said, “I would like to reassure all governments & 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 @SerumInstIndia." He said that Covishield vaccine production won't be affected by the fire.

The Serum Institute, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, produces 1.5 billion doses of polio, BCG, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccines in a year.