MUMBAI: Two people were killed when a fire broke out at a nuclear research centre near India's financial capital Mumbai, but authorities ruled out any radioactive leakage, a report said Tuesday.

The fire broke out in a chemical laboratory at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), situated on the outskirts of the western city, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said.

"The fire broke out in the chemical lab on the third floor of the modular lab at the BARC," Atomic Research Commission chairman Sreekumar Banerjee told the news agency.

PTI quoted an unnamed police official as saying that two research students had become trapped in the fire and died.

The official added that there was no danger to the main reactor or any other sensitive facilities around the BARC complex.

A fire official told AFP that one student had been injured.

The centre is one of India's top nuclear research institutes.