At least 19 people were killed, and dozens hurt in a blast at a firecracker factory in India, authorities said on Saturday.
The blast on Friday afternoon in Virudhunagar district was one of the worst such incidents in years in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Local official R Kannan told AFP that the death toll was likely to go up in the next few hours.
"So far 34 people have been injured and are undergoing treatment. Some of them are severely burnt," he said.
Kannan said there were around 74 people in the factory at the time of the incident.
According to media reports, the factory was being run illegally. News portal The Newsminute said the owner was missing and that the police were still investigating the cause of the accident.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief at the incident and announced Rs2 lakh ex-gratia each to the family of those killed in the fire, his office said. Modi also announced Rs 50,000 for those injured.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also offered his condolences. “Heartfelt condolences to the victims of the firecracker factory fire in Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu,” he tweeted.
The Virudhunagar district is India's firecrackers capital, and hundreds of thousands of people in the region are dependent on the pyrotechnics industry for a living. Accidents are common.
At least 11 people were killed in two separate incidents in the region just before nationwide Covid-19 lockdowns were enforced in March. Fires in firecracker factories in 2009 and 2012 killed nearly 40 people each.