A fire at a chemical factory in southern India killed at least six people and injured 12, a government official said on Thursday, with more casualties feared in the second such accident this week.
Government officials provided images of Wednesday's massive blaze at the factory in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
"There is a possibility of casualties increasing," V. Prasanna Venkatesh, administrative chief of the surrounding district of Eluru, told Reuters.
"Chemical processing was being done (in the unit) and gas cylinders were stored there."
The exact cause of the fire was not immediately clear but it could have been triggered when the cylinders burst for some reason, Venkatesh said, adding that authorities were investigating.
In the western state of Gujarat, a massive explosion at a chemicals plant killed six people this week.
Fatal fires in factories, hospitals and shopping complexes are common in India and often blamed on people flouting safety norms, as well as lax inspection by government officials.
At least 14 infants were killed in a fire at a state-run hospital in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Wednesday, the prime minister said, with local media blaming the tragedy on a fault in the air conditioning system.
The US military said on Tuesday four people have been killed in a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean, the latest in a series of attacks that Washington says target "narco-terrorists" but human rights groups condemn as extrajudicial killings.
A massive flash flood in the Himalayan nation of Nepal washed away villages while damaging roads, bridges and power projects in a region bordering Tibet, authorities said on Wednesday, as they warned against the risk of casualties.
Canada on Tuesday announced retaliatory tariffs on C$27.6 billion ($19.94 billion) worth of United States goods, matching dollar-for-dollar new duties imposed by Washington, and unveiled financial support for Canadian businesses and workers caught in the escalating trade war.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi has held talks in Iran with his Iranian counterpart, Dr. Seyed Abbas Araghchi, focusing on the resumption of safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.