A cooking gas cylinder exploded Saturday in a crowded restaurant in central India, killing at least 89 people and injuring many others.
Police said that the death toll had risen throughout the day as rescue workers continued to extricate bodies from under the rubble.
About 100 people were injured in the blast, 20 of them seriously, and were transported to hospitals for treatment, a police inspector said.
The inspector also said that detonators were stored illegally in a room adjacent to the restaurant.
The eatery in the town of Petlawad, in Madhya Pradesh state, about 950 kilometers south of India’s capital, New Delhi, was packed with people having breakfast when the powerful explosion happened.
The blast damaged nearby buildings and residents were evacuated from several of them.
Domestic gas cylinder explosions are common in India.
In the north of the country, a train derailed Saturday near the town of Kalka, in Himachal Pradesh state, killing two British tourists, and leaving several injured, Indian police sources announced.
The cause of the derailment was not immediately known, but safety standards on India’s state-run railway network, which is the largest in the world, have been an ongoing concern because of several accidents.
