Hurricane Katia strengthens en route to eastern Mexico: NHC

(Reuters) - Hurricane Katia has strengthened slightly as it swirls toward eastern Mexico and remains on track to gain major hurricane strength upon landfall, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Thursday. The category 1 hurricane is about 185 miles (300 km) east-southeast of Tampico, Mexico, packing maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour (140 kph), the NHC said. (Reporting by Apeksha Nair and Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)