Explosion at Indian fireworks factory kills 18

Police say 18 people, including 10 children, have been killed in an explosion at an illegal fireworks factory in western India.

Area police chief Rohit Mahajan says the blast early today occurred in a workshop set up in a home in a slum in the town of Deeg.

Mr Mahajan says the huge explosion brought down two neighbouring homes, leading to the high death toll.

Deeg is some 120 miles northwest of Jaipur, the capital of India’s Rajasthan state.