Seventeen people were killed in an explosion at a firecracker factory in Batala of Gurdaspur district on Wednesday, Punjab Police said. The blast led to the collapse of the building.
A rescue operation was on to evacuate others feared trapped in the debris. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed for the rescue operation. Senior officials of the district administration and police have reached the spot to take stock of the situation.
The incident took place around 4 pm at the factory located in a residential area, Inspector General (Border Range) SPS Parmar told reporters.
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