Meerut, June 17 -- A massive explosion ripped through a firecracker factory operating in the forested outskirts of a village in Amroha district on Sunday, killing five women and critically injuring over a dozen other people, police said.

Officials said around 25 people were working inside the factory, near Atarasi, at the time of the explosion. Citing eyewitnesses, they suggested that the explosion might have occurred after a child of one of the workers lit a firecracker, which set off nearby crackers and gunpowder. The factory building was reduced to rubble, and debris from the explosion was scattered within a 300-meter radius.

Sameer Ali, a local, who rushed to the site, recounted: "I heard what sounded like a tyre burst. When we came...