Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday has tweeted to extend his condolences to families of people who lost ir lives in fire that took place at a firecracker factory in Punjab. fire took place in a three-storied firecracker factory in Batala in Punjab's Gurdaspur.

According to Gurdaspur Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Deepak Bhatia, at least 23 people have died, and 27 ors were injured and many were feared trapped inside debris. Ambulance and fire tenders were rushed to spot.

PM Modi expresses anguish

firecracker factory blast was so strong that three to four nearby buildings also collapsed. blast also smashed windowpanes of buildings that were up to 1 km away. A car and a bike were also destroyed in blast. Teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) carried out rescue operation.

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Reactions of Officials

Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh, expressed his grief at incident and has ordered a magisterial inquiry into matter. Punjab Government also anunced Rs 2 lakh for deceased and Rs 50 thousand for injured immediately.

President of India Ram Nath Kovind also expressed his condolences to all those who h lost ir lives in blast and wished injured a speedy recovery.

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Gurdaspur MP Sunny Deol also expressed sness over incident and said that NDRF teams and officials from local ministration were taking part in relief works.

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Ambulances, fire tenders rushed from Gurdaspur and Amritsar. Gurdaspur DC Vipul Ujwal h reached spot along with SSP Upinderjit Singh Ghuman. More than 100 policemen were on spot as well as many passersby initially hindering rescue process.

reason behind explosion is yet to be ascertained.

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