Two BARC scientist dead in Fire

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’s Radiation and Photochemistry Division. While the cause of the fire in the third-floor Modular Lab is yet to be ascertained, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) said that no reactor, radioactivity or radiation was involved. The fire has left authorities puzzled since, as per preliminary information, the two scientists were not dealing with any inflammable material. BARC director Sreekumar Banerjee spoke to National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and PMO officials today. Sources said that of the five scientists working in the lab, three were on holiday and only Singh and Bag were at work.