At least 19 people were killed and dozens hurt in a blast at a firecracker factory in India, authorities said yesterday. The blast on Friday afternoon in Virudhunagar district was one of the worst such incidents in years in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Local official R Kannan told AFP that the death toll was likely to go up as some of the 34 people injured are severely burnt. Kannan said there were around 74 people in the factory at the time of the incident. According to media reports, the factory was being run illegally. News portal The Newsminute said the owner was missing and that the police were still investigating the cause of the accident.