India, Feb. 17 -- Seven people were burnt alive and two were critically injured in an illegal firecracker-manufacturing factory in the Bhiwadi town of Rajasthan's Khairthal-Tijara district on Monday, officials said. The incident occurred in the Khushkhera-Karoli industrial area in Bhiwadi.

"Seven persons have died in the incident. It was a garment factory but firecrackers were being manufactured inside it illegally," Sumitra Pareek, Additional District Magistrate, said. She said that two people trapped in the factory were rescued. They were admitted to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital in a critical condition.Earlier, officials had said that the fire broke out in a chemical factory.

"The premises was leased out in the name of a garment factor...