The Serum Institute of India (SII) on Friday said it has suffered losses of over Rs 1,000 crore due to the devastating fire that erupted a day before at its premises here, even as Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that whether the blaze was an accident or sabotage will be known once the probe gets over.
Five contractual labourers died in the fire that broke out in a five-storey building in the SII’s Manjari premises in Pune on Thursday. Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SII, said, “The extent of the damage is more than Rs 1,000 crore because of the equipment and products over there that were to be launched.” He, however, reiterated that the Covishield vaccine production has not been impacted due to the blaze. “Fortunately, we have got multiple facilities and as CM sir has explained, the COVID-19 vaccine’s supply will not be affected due to the incident,” Poonawalla added.