Pune: The reason behind fire mishap at Serum Institute of India (SII) is yet to be known and the fire audit will be done on Friday, informed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

Pawar visited the Serum Institute to review the incident which took place on Thursday. While talking to mediapersons, he said, "The fire audit will be done on Friday. The reason behind the mishap is unclear. Though there are certain speculations that fire broke out due to welding work but it's yet to be known."

"There is no need to panic as the fire is under control at the centre. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will visit the Institute on Friday for review and will declare the compensation for the family members of the deceased," he informed further.

Earlier in the day, a major fire broke out at Serum Institute in Dhanori area of Pune. The fire incident which took place at 1.30 pm killed five contractual workers. The building where the incident took place is away from the building where COVISHIELD, vaccine against coronavirus is manufactured. Thus, the vaccine unit is completely safe.

As soon as the fire broke out, 10 tankers of fire brigade rushed the spot along with a special branto vehicle. According to the fire department, three people were rescued.

In the evening, the pharma giant stated that there are no casualties but as soon as the fire was doused, the fire department officials found five people dead who were in the affected building.

The deceased have been identified as Rama Shankar Harijan, Bipin Saroj (residents of Uttar Pradesh), Sushil Kumar Pandey (resident of Bihar), Mahendra Ingle and Pratik Pashte (residents of Pune).

Pune-based pharma giant has developed the Covishield vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will visit the centre to take the stock of matter on Friday.