Wedding fire, stampede kills 27 in Pakistan

MULTAN, Pakistan, Dec 17 (Reuters) A fire at a wedding party triggered a stampede and collapse of a wall in central Pakistan, killing the bride and 26 other women and children, police said today.

The marriage party was underway in a tent near the city of Dera Ghazi Khan last night when it caught fire. An electrical short-circuit is thought to have caused the blaze.

Several women and children died of burns. Many of those fleeing scaled a nearby wall, causing it to collapse.

''Twenty women and seven children have been killed. The unfortunate bride is also among them,'' Nazar Abbas, a deputy superintendent of police, told Reuters.

Abbas said up to 300 women and children were gathered in the tent and were singing wedding songs when the incident happened.

He said scores of people were injured.

A police officer had earlier said the groom was among injured.

But Abbas said the groom and other men were gathered in a separate tent and there were no casualities among them.

Dera Ghazi Khan is about 500 km (310 miles) southwest of the capital, Islamabad.

REUTERS SSC ND1702