West Bengal: Death toll in firecracker factory blast rises to 9

Keramat Ali, who is accused of running the factory at the residential area of Duttapukur, and Samsul Ali, also a partner of the factory, succumbed to their wounds at the Barasat Medical Hospital, sources added.

On Sunday's blast, there were altogether seven casualties, and as many left wounded; three of them were women.

The blast happened around 10-30 AM in the residential area of Nilgunj-Moshpole under Duttapukur police station, and the immediate impact was the two-storied house was flattened and some other residences in the vicinity were damaged.

Eyewitnesses said the explosion did not not cause flames, but thick black smoke covered the whole area. They said the explosion might have happened when the workers of the illegal factory were drying the firecrackers on the roof.

Scores of sacks stacked with firecrackers - chocolate bomb, a banned item - were found in another godown, which fortunately was not affected in the massive explosion, sources added.

They said the workers were mostly hired from the Murshidabad district, another neighbor complained.

The blast happened at the house of Samshul Ali, which the police came to know while probing the massive blast.

A separate report said a mutilated body was found in a pond filled with hyacinth. The pond is some distance away from the scene of the blast.

Local people, after seeing the half-drowned body, informed the police, who recovered the body, which had no head.

It was not immediately confirmed if the victim was a casualty of the blast. The CID began an investigation and collected samples from the site.