Pune Serum Institute fire has left probe agencies baffled

The fire at the under-construction complex at SII happened on January 21. File pic

The cause of the fire at Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune has been baffling both the team of officials investigating the incident and the Pune police. A week after the January 21 fire that killed five people, investigators are waiting for the report from Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL), Pune to get some clues.

Fire officials from three different agencies - Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) - as the Manjari plant of SII is located in SEZ area, Hadapsar, under MIDC; Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) and Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) are probing the incident.

An official probing the fire, said, "We have, so far, not been able to ascertain the reason for the fire, which started on the second-floor mezzanine of the SII plant, and are awaiting the RFSL Pune's report and autopsy findings. These will help us get more clues to probe the reason behind the fire. The committee formed under PMRDA, PMC and MIDC will study the RFSL analysis and submit a report accordingly."

When asked to elaborate on the mezzanine floor, the official explained, "Each floor has a production unit and above that the service area, which is called the ‘mezzanine floor'.

"For instance, the ground floor has a production unit and above it is the mezzanine floor service area. Similarly, the first-floor production unit has a mezzanine floor above it, and so on. The fire started in the service area (mezzanine floor) above the second-floor production area, which is spread approximately over a few thousand square metres."

Prashant Ranpise, Chief Fire Officer, PMC, said, "The MIDC fire team is conducting the primary inquiry into the fire; we are yet to come to any conclusion."

Meanwhile, the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health has also begun a probe.

Vijay Yadav, joint director, Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health, Pune, said, "We are probing the cases as per the industrial safety guidelines and three of our senior officers are on the job. We are in the process of collecting evidence from the site."

When asked if the subcontractor's staff, who succumbed to the fire had adequate industrial safety training, Yadav said, "Prima-facie it seems that they did have basic training for the job that was assigned to them."

Autopsy findings
A forensic team from the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology attached to B J Medical college, Pune conducted the autopsy of the five deceased at Sassoon hospital, Pune.

According to highly placed forensic sources, the victims' bodies had turned black due to superficial burns. Relatives/associates identified them by their clothes and belongings (wallets).

"Prima facie, it seems they suffocated to death due to inhalation of toxic carbon monoxide. A fire in an enclosed room uses up the oxygen and replaces it with carbon dioxide. Following a build-up of carbon dioxide, the fuel is prevented from burning fully and starts to release carbon monoxide, which leads to unconsciousness and subsequent death. The bodies had already started becoming stiff (a sign of rigor mortis), which indicates that they suffocated to death soon after the fire started," a source said.

"We do not want any mismatch of deceased and their next of kin. Hence, the chest bone and a molar tooth of each of the deceased has been preserved for DNA analysis. This, especially since SII has announced a compensation of R25 lakh for the kin of each of the deceased," said a forensic official.

"Blood has been preserved for toxicology analysis by RFSL to rule out carbon monoxide poisoning and lungs have been sent for histopathology tests to the Department of Histopathology at Sassoon hospital. Analysis of the lungs would help ascertain the presence of soot in the lower respiratory tract and the degree of smoke inhalation," said the expert.

The Sassoon forensic team said the preliminary cause of death was ‘shock due to burns with suffocation' in all five cases. The final cause of death will be issued later on the basis of the test reports.

Samples collected from site
A team of forensic scientists from the chemistry and biology division of RFSL collected debris, including ashes, from the spot at SII. Samples of polymeric materials from the site were also collected.

"The materials recovered have been handed over to the police, who would submit them to RFSL. Our role is to ascertain the circumstantial reason for the fire, for which we will examine the samples to rule out the presence of any inflammable materials or petroleum hydrocarbon viz petrol, kerosene, diesel etc. to rule out fire arson," said highly placed sources.

2nd
Mezzanine part of this floor is where the fire occurred