Chandigarh, Sep 4 (TIWN) At least 21 people were killed and 26 injured in an explosion following a blaze at an unauthorised firecracker manufacturing unit in a densely-populated residential area in Punjab's Gurdaspur district on Wednesday, an official said. Two people are still missing.

The dead included the firecracker manufacturing unit's owner and six of his family members.  Rescue workers, including National Disaster Response Force personnel, were on the job to retrieve two missing people from the badly-damaged building located next to the totally damaged firecracker unit in Batala town of the district, Deputy Commissioner Vipul Ujwal told the media at the spot.  He said seven grievously injured were referred to the Guru Nanak Hospital in Amritsar.  A number of nearby buildings, including a car workshop, were badly damaged in the explosion. An elderly woman and her grandchild, who were passing close to the disaster spot, were among the dead.