A cooking gas cylinder exploded and triggered a second blast of detonators stored near the restaurant, located in the town of Petlawad in Madhya Pradesh state, said Inspector Mewa Lal Gond from the Madhya Pradesh police in Jhabua district.

Rescue workers extricated 82 bodies from the under a huge heap of rubble and concrete slabs, Gond said.

The restaurant, located next to Petlawad's main bus station, was full of people having breakfast when the blasts occurred.

Arun Sharma, a state health official, said doctors at a government hospital in the nearby district town of Jhabua conducted autopsies of 60 victims. The bodies were then handed over to the victims' families.

Gond said around 35 other people were hospitalized with injuries.

Residents were evacuated from several adjoining buildings that were damaged in the blasts, said a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

Police struggled to keep hundreds of onlookers and people looking for their relatives away from the site of the explosions, he said. The crowds hampered the movement of ambulances and other emergency vehicles, and officers had to push them back to allow a bulldozer to reach the restaurant.

Police said the detonators were stored illegally in a room adjacent to the restaurant. The explosive material is used by miners for blasting operations.

Manganese and other minerals are mined from places near Jhabua.

Petlawad is about 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of New Delhi. (k)(++++)

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