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HO CHI MINH CITY, Thursday (Reuters) The death toll from a fire that swept through a building in southern Vietnam rose to 61, an official said on Thursday, as investigators focused on an explosion of a gas cylinder as a possible cause of the blaze.

The toll from Tuesday's fire, the worst in southern Vietnam's commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City in 27 years, could rise as workers sifted through debris in the badly damaged building.

A spokesman for Vietnam's biggest city said the death count had risen by one overnight when one of the injured died in hospital. No details on the victim were provided.

"We are continuing to search for bodies, but we think there are not too many left in the building," he told Reuters. The recovery of bodies had been hampered by the intensity of the five-hour blaze and the lack of proper fire-fighting equipment. 

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