<span style="color: #222222;">Rescue operations continue at a firecracker factory site in Punjab where 23 people were killed and several injured in a powerful explosion. The blast occured at the firecracker factory located in a residential area on Jalandhar road in Batala of Gurdaspur district in the evening yesterday.<br />''<br />''Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has ordered a magisterial probe into the blast. He has also announced an ex-gratia grant for those injured and the kin of deceased. </span><br />