As many as five people have been killed in a fire at the site of the world's largest coronavirus vaccine manufacturer, according to reports.
Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the Serum Institute of India (SII) today.
Millions of doses of the Covidshield vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, are being produced at the plant.
Initial reports suggested that there had been no casualties but Adar Poonawalla, SII's CEO, confirmed there had been "some loss of life" in a statement.
He said: "Upon further investigation we have learnt that there has unfortunately been some loss of life at the incident.
"We are deeply saddened and offer our deepest condolences to the family members of the departed."
The Times of India reports that five people are dead.
It is thought that the blaze was at a construction site on the 100-acre facility in Pune and coronavirus stocks have not been affected.
The cause of the fire is yet to be established.
SII is manufacturing a vaccine developed for India and other low and middle income countries.
The company is also getting ready to produce a vaccine being developed by the U.S. company Novavax Inc.
India launched one a significant vaccine rollout on Saturday, with the aim of inoculating 300million people by July.
The country exported its first batch of the Covishield vaccine on Wednesday to Bhutan and the Maldives, Metro said.
It has also sent 2million doses to Bangladesh and 1million to Nepal.
India plans to offer 20 million doses to neighbouring countries in South Asia, followed by Latin America, Africa and Central Asia.
