AJMER: Rescuers discovered nine more bodies on Sunday beneath the ruins of an Indian hotel, bringing the known death toll from an explosion which tore through a wedding party to 18, an official said.

A gas cylinder exploded late on Friday at the hotel in the city of Beawar, in the western state of Rajasthan, reducing the venue to ruins and sparking a huge fire.

By Saturday evening officials said nine bodies had been found. But the figure rose sharply on Sunday as rescue teams, aided by the army, found nine more victims including women and children under rubble.

“So far 18 bodies have been recovered,” said Gau­rav Goyal, a senior administrative official in Ajmer, the district where the blast occurred, about 200 kilometres from the state capital Jaipur. “Five seriously inju­red people, with severe burn injuries, are being treated in hospital,” he said.

Recovery teams were sifting through mangled heaps of concrete and steel, removing victims on stretchers covered with white sheets.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2018