JODHPUR: Two people died when a cannon exploded during a ceremonial one-gun salute for a minister in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, police said on Thursday.

Six more were hurt when the 200-year-old cannon blew up after supporters of the state’s civil supplies minister, Kirorilal Meena, stuffed it with gunpower and lit the fuse in Baroli village, Sawaimadhopur district, on Tuesday.

“We have registered a case of causing death,” local police chief Alok Gautam told newsmen by telephone from Sawaimadhpur, 175km from the state capital Jaipur.

The minister swiftly left the welcoming ceremony after the gun splintered, residents said. The state government on Thursday ordered a probe into the accident. The cannon may have been stuffed with too much gunpowder, media reports said.

The villagers had procured the cannon to welcome Meena by emulating an old royal tradition of a gun salute. Gautam said police would be investigating how the cannon reached the village.—AFP