Two research students killed in fire at Indian nuclear centre at Trombay

MUMBAI - Two research students were burnt to death on Tuesday during a fire that broke out in a chemical laboratory in the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Trombay in Mumbai.

As per media reports, spectroscopic equipment are kept in the laboratory located on the third floor of the building.

“It started at about 12.15 in the morning when we first saw some flames coming out from the particular row of a particular lab. And subsequently the fire brigade of BARC came and they doused the fire in about 45 minutes time. And after the police took over the investigation to find the cause of the fire accident, they discovered two dead bodies above the charred tables,” said T P Das, Inspector General of Security Department of BARC.

The slain students were later identified as Umang Singh from Mumbai and Partha Pratim Bag from West Bengal, both PhD students in BARCs Radiation and Photochemistry Division.

Police said that the exact cause of the accident would be known only after the team of experts submit the report.

BARC officials, however, said that no research involving radioactive material was being conducted in the multi-storeyed modular building, in which the chemistry lab was housed.

It was also stated that no reactor, radioactivity or radiation was involved in the accident.

BARC has a number of nuclear research reactors and is one of India’s key research centres for both nuclear power and nuclear weapons. (ANI)