More than two dozen people, including a four-month-old baby, have died in an explosion which rocked the small town of San Cristóbal, in the Dominican Republic, on Monday.

The death toll rose from 11 to 25 on Wednesday as the search for survivors continued.

It is not yet known what caused the blast in the town's commercial area.

Smoke from the explosion and the fires it ignited could be seen wafting over the town for many hours afterwards.

President Luis Abinader, who visited the site of the explosion, said on Tuesday that "we are doing all that is humanly possible to locate" the missing.

Dozens of people were injured and many remain in hospital.

Hundreds of firefighters are still trying to extinguish the flames in four of the nine buildings which caught fire.

The explosion ripped through the town, on the south-western outskirts of the capital Santo Domingo, on Monday afternoon.

Its exact source has not yet been pinpointed. Among the buildings destroyed are a hardware shop, a veterinary clinic and a plastics factory.