Blast at Aether Industries chemical plant kills seven, injures 24

A storage tank blast killed seven people and injured 24 at a plant of Indian specialty chemicals maker Aether Industries in the western port city of Surat, police said on Thursday.

The cause of the explosion early on Wednesday has yet to be determined, said city fire official Omprakash Mishra, although a fire it started had been put out.

"We have found seven dead bodies from the factory," J R Chaudhari, a police officer based near the site of the blast in Gujarat state, told Reuters, adding that authorities were now calling off a search for missing workers.

Twenty-four injured workers were being treated in hospital, Mishra added.

Shares of Aether Industries fell as much as 1.9% on Thursday, after news of the fire drove them down 8.4% the previous day.