The death toll in the Balaghat factory blast rose to 27 on Thursday.
An explosion had occurred on Wednesday at a firecracker factory at Kater, nearly 5 km from district headquarters town of Balaghat, in Madhya Pradesh.
Police sources said the death toll may further go up with bodies of victims still being extricated from the blast site. "Fifteen bodies have so far been removed from the blast site. We could see at least a dozen more in the debris inside the factory," said a senior police officer.
"The explosion that took place around 3.30 pm was so powerful that even factory walls collapsed under its impact," said Addl DG G Janardan.
According to police, nearly 50 labourers were working in the factory, built illegally, when the fire broke out.
A woman worker injured in the incident reported the matter to the local police that led the administration to launch the rescue operation.
The powerful explosion threw away several bodies out of factory, injured woman worker said. Bodies were seen strewn around 100 meter area near the blast site.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered a probe into the incident and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to the injured.