Fire at wedding kills 27

A FIRE erupted in a wedding tent in eastern Pakistan, triggering a stampede and the collapse of a wall that killed 27 women and children, police said yesterday. The bride was among the dead.

More than 30 other people in the wedding party were injured on Saturday night in Jhok Utra, a village about 290 miles southwest of the capital Islamabad, area police officer Khadim Hussain Khadim said.

Heat from high-intensity lights apparently sparked the blaze in a large canvas tent where more than 100 women and children, many singing wedding songs, were present, Khadim said. The men were in a separate tent — following conservative Muslim tradition — that was not damaged.

Twenty women and seven children died, either from burns or from injuries suffered during the stampede or when a newly built brick wall collapsed on top of those trying to escape the fire.

Khadim said those fleeing were forced to escape down a narrow street, and the wall collapsed after many people were pushed against it.