LAB FIRE: Cops doubt victims died even before they had a chance to scream

Mumbai: A day after two young research scientists died in a massive fire at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the organisation is investigating if there were any lapses or carelessness on their part.

A day after two research scientists in the Radiation and Photochemistry Department of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) were killed in a fire in their laboratory, the postmortem report concluded that the bodies had 100 per cent burns due to a chemical explosion, followed by a fire.

An inquiry is being undertaken to investigate the cause of the accident which led to the death of the two research scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc), minister of state for science and technology Prithviraj Chavan said talking exclusively to this paper.

Two research scientists were killed after a fire broke out in a photochemistry laboratory in the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay, on Tuesday afternoon.

They were identified by the police as Umang Singh from Mumbai and Partha Pratim Bag from West Bengal, both PhD students in BARC

Mumbai: A high intensity explosion at a chemical laboratory inside the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) on Tuesday noon claimed the lives of two junior scientists. BARC, however, confirmed that no reactor, radioactivity or radiation was involved in the incident, which took place about a kilometre away from the nuclear reactor.

The major fire that broke out at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre at Trombay on Tuesday afternoon has sparked off fears of a radioactive gas leak, even though Barc has stressed that the explosion happened more than a kilometre away from the two nuclear reactors that are there in the campus.

Access to the reactors is restricted to only a few people.

Two research scholars lost their lives in a major fire that broke out at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre at Trombay on Tuesday afternoon. Barc sources said scientists working there heard a loud explosion in the modular laboratory, which houses over 60 research scholars and assistants, and rushed to see flames and smoke billowing out of the third floor at around noon.

Surendra Gadekar

Leakage raises safety concerns If the heightened security system is so lax, how can people trust the nuclear establishment's ability to provide fool-proof security?