90 people have been confirmed dead and over 150 others injured following the explosion ripped through a packed restaurant near a bus stop in central Indian Madhya Pradesh state's Jhabua district on Saturday.
Chief medical officer Dr. Arun Sharma told local media that the death toll could still rise while 90 people have been confirmed dead in the explosion and authorities have “performed the autopsy of 82 people.”
The reason for the blast was not immediately clear but sources said it may have been triggered by gelatine sticks, a kind of high powered explosives used for mining, that were stored along with gas cylinders in a nearby home.
The blast occurred in the town of Petlawad at around 08:30 a.m. when dozens of office workers and schoolchildren were having breakfast at the restaurant, said police.
“People were thrown away like pebbles in the air due to the explosion,” local daily The Hindustan Times quoted a witness as saying.
There have been various descriptions of the blast. Police said earlier that it was caused by gas cylinders, followed by later speculations of fireworks stored by the landlord of the restaurant which caught fire and led to the explosion.
While authorities have vowed to launch an inquiry into the incident, negligence was blamed on them for failing to check any illegal storing of explosives in crowded residential areas of the city.
The state government said it would pay the families of each dead some $2,500, a common practice in India when deadly incidents occur.