The death toll from a powerful explosion that tore through a commercial area in the Dominican Republic rose to 32, the authorities said.

Of 59 people injured in the blast, 12 are still in hospital, three of them in intensive care and five in burn units, said the health ministry.

Search teams, some using sniffer dogs, are still working at the site, deputy director of the Emergency Operations Center (COE), Julian Garcia, told journalists on Friday.

"Until all the rubble is removed, the search will not stop," he said, warning that the death toll could still rise.

Among the 32 deaths now reported "13 corpses have been identified and 11 bodies have been delivered to relatives," the country's national forensic institute said, according to a report from COE.

Investigators are working to determine the cause of the explosion, which along with the resulting fire damaged nine buildings and destroyed four.