Excerpt from prokerala.com reported on 30th Dec 2009: Read Full Article
As investigators struggled to find the cause of a fire in the country’s premier Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) that killed two scientists, the family members of one of the victims Wednesday have demanded a “thorough probe” into the accident.
“We are shocked at the attitude of the BARC officials though an incident of such a magnitude has taken place. We want a complete inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into it,” Munna Singh, uncle of Umesh Narayan Singh who died in the blaze, told IANS.
A loud explosion followed the fire that had broken out in a room on the third floor of the modular laboratory Tuesday noon when the two junior scientists were present on the premises. Both were killed.
As per preliminary investigations, the fire is suspected to have erupted following a chemical reaction that led to a blast in the laboratory housing analytical instruments.
Grieving over the loss of his nephew as the victim’s body was brought home here late Wednesday, Singh said that usually there would be five or six fellow research students and a senior person present on the premises.
“Why were these two boys alone in the laboratory at the time of the incident? We want answers to these questions as it has national security implications,” he demanded.
