Six people were killed and at least 17 were injured in an explosion at a firecracker factory in Bihar’s Nalanda district late on Thursday. Three children are among the dead, PTI reported.

Nalanda District Magistrate Thyagarajan said the firecracker unit was an illegal one as it was located in a crowded residential neighbourhood. The man who ran the factory lost many members of his family in the fire. The three children who died were his month-old daughter, four-year-old son and three-year-old daughter. His sister and a neighbour were also killed.

Of the 17 people injured, three are in a serious condition.

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The Nalanda administration has suspended the station house officer of Khasganj, Sher Singh Yadav, for not monitoring the work at the illegal unit. The police have also filed a First Information Report against the man who ran the factory.

Divisional Commissioner of Patna Anand Kishor and a deputy inspector general-level police officer will jointly inquire into the incident, a Bihar government press release said according to PTI.