7 killed in blast in Bihar's Bhagalpur

At least seven persons were killed and seven others injured following a powerful explosion in a house in Bihar's Bhagalpur district, police said on Friday.

The explosion took place at around 11.30 p.m. on Thursday night in the house in Kajwali Chak village under Tatarpur police station. The explosion was so intense that four houses collapsed and the sound was heard around 15 kms away from the site.

Following the explosion, Bhagalpur range DIG Sujit Kumar, District Magistrate Subrat Kumar Sen, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Babu Ram and other senior officials reached the spot.

"The explosion may have taken place during the illegal manufacturing of country-made crude bombs. There is also a possibility that the alleged persons could be making crackers. As the nature of the blast was so intense, we believe that the quantity of the explosives was very high," Sujit Kumar said.

Of the seven victims, two were identified as Ganesh Prasad Singh (60), Urmila Devi (65), while the identities of the five remaining were not known yet.

The injured persons have been identified as Soni Kumari (30), Navin Mandal (32), Rahul Kumar (20) Aayesha Kumari (25), Rinku Kumar Shah (30), Vaishnavi (30) and Jaya (35).

The injured persons were admitted to the Mayaganj hospital in Bhagalpur. Four of them are in critical condition.

Local police believe that there could be more persons trapped under the debris. The rescue operation started soon after the incident.

"We are in the process of recording the statement of the injured to find out the nature of explosives. We have also called the FSL team to collect the samples as well," Kumar said.

The areas around Bhagalpur and Munger are hubs for illegal manufacturing of firearms and bombs.