Blast at School of Pharmacy stalls classes

Students and staff from the School of Pharmacy and Technology Management panicked when an explosion took place inside the pharmacy laboratory on Monday morning.

“The blast occurred at around 11 in the morning inside the School of Pharmacy laboratory located on the sixth floor. Immediately all staff members and students were evacuated. The explosion was in the compressor of the refrigerator inside the laboratory and there was a short-circuit. But the exact reason as to what triggered it, is yet to be ascertained,” said Ashish Tambe, public relations officer, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) with which the school is affiliated.

While the pharmacy school is across the fourth, fifth and sixth floors, all the eight floors of the building were evacuated. The building also houses NMIMS’s School of Business Management, School of Commerce, School of Architecture and Mithibai College.

Classes were stalled for an hour as a precaution. “I had to reschedule my practical for Tuesday,” said Shashirekha S Kumar, head of the botany department, Mithibai College.
When the explosion took place, no one was present inside the laboratory. The fire brigade was informed immediatedly.

“The institute security staff brought the fire under control within 10 to 15 minutes and by that time the fire brigade also arrived. Since no one was working in the laboratory, there were no injuries,” he said.