A jeep exploded in southern India today, killing 16 people and wounding 15, many of them curious villagers who had gathered around the vehicle after it caught fire, police said.
The jeep was carrying explosives from a factory when its engine caught fire on a highway near Tindivanam town in Tamil Nadu state, about 200 km south of the state capital of Chennai, police said.
The explosion triggered by the fire was so powerful that a car coming behind the jeep was also destroyed, a police spokesman said.