12 Sep 2015

Over 40 dead after restaurant explosion in India

9:18 pm on 12 September 2015

The death toll from an explosion in a restaurant in central India has risen to 44.

The police in the town of Petlawad say a cooking gas cylinder blew up in a restaurant and that set fire to an area where explosives used at construction sites were stored.

They say there was a second explosion, and more casualties.

At least 44 people are dead and another 60 people injured.

Television footage showed a collapsed building and people searching for bodies in the rubble.

The chief minister of Madhya Pradesh has announced compensation for the victims' families.