Explosives Warehouse Blows Up, Killing 18

A huge blast in a warehouse Thursday where explosives were stored killed at least 18 people, including two children, police said.

The explosion in the western Indian town of Sangamnagar, 170 miles southeast of Bombay, the capital of Maharashtra state, was triggered by an accidental fire, said a local police officer, Vijay Chauhan.

Most of the 31 people injured were admitted to a hospital in Satara, the nearest big town, Chauhan said by telephone. Of the 18 dead, seven were women.

The blast damaged more than 30 homes nearby and many cars on a highway a mile away.

The dead were all people who were walking past the warehouse, which was used to store an explosive that is used for mining and blasting to clear rocks, Chauhan said. No bodies were found in the debris of the warehouse.