Two days after a fire preceded by an explosion killed two post-doctoral research students at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc) in Trombay, police are no closer to establishing the cause of their death, and are also clueless about how the fire started. They are now awaiting the forensic report, which could take 3-4 weeks to arrive.
A senior official of the country’s premier research establishment on Thursday said there is a possibility that the two may have died before being charred by the fire that broke out on the third floor of the modular laboratory. According to Tulsi Mukherjee, head of the chemistry group at Barc, the mystery behind the fire has deepened since there is no evidence of a cylinder burst, explosion in the refrigerator compressor, or even an electrical short circuit.
Mukherjee said there were no cries for help, which is an indication that Umang Singh and Partha Bagh may have died before being charred beyond recognition. Mukherjee mentioned that the laboratory had been painted recently and it could be that there was some gaseous vapour coming out from the paint, which might have led to a chemical reaction that ignited the fire.
Singh and Bagh were working on cancer-related research, which was based on anti-oxidants.
(With agency inputs)
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