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Pakistani wedding fire kills 22 | Pakistani wedding fire kills 22 |
(30 minutes later) | |
At least 22 women and children, including the bride, have died after a fire broke out in a tent at a wedding party in eastern Pakistan, police said. | |
At least 30 people were injured in the accident in Jhok Utra, 120km (75 miles) west of Multan, when a wall collapsed after the blaze triggered a stampede. | |
An electrical short-circuit is thought to have caused the blaze. | An electrical short-circuit is thought to have caused the blaze. |
The male wedding guests were in a separate tent that was not damaged, although the groom was injured. | |
According to local custom there were two tents - one for the women and one for the men. They were set up in the garden of the bride's home. | |
The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says more than 100 women and children were in a tent singing wedding songs when an electrical short circuit set fire to the canvas. | |
The blaze triggered a stampede as guests tried to escape the flames in the collapsing tent. Many of them clambered over a nearby wall, which gave way under their weight. | |
Police said people died of burns and from injuries caused when they tried to escape, some immediately, others later in hospital. A number have been critically injured. |