"NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- A fire on at a makeshift palm-frond wedding hall in southern India killed 52 people, including the groom, and injured dozens more as the couple were about to take their vows, police said.
Most of the victims apparently died of burns or asphyxiation from the smoke, police said, though small children may have been killed or injured as panicked guests stampeded down a narrow staircase.
The dead included the 36-year-old groom, four children younger than eight and 20 women, police said. The bride survived with some bruises.
Fifty-two people were injured and four of them were in a critical condition, police said. Police Commissioner Sunil Kumar Singh told Reuters the death toll could rise.
"The death toll could increase since four of the 52 injured are right now in a critical condition. It is hard to evaluate the extent of internal damage in burn injuries so the condition of some more of the injured could even deteriorate," Singh said.
According to police, a spark from a short circuit set fire to the thatch roof of the building where the ceremony was being held.
The bride, Jaishree Ramanathan, a schoolteacher, was in serious condition with burns, the top administrator for Tiruchy district K. Manivasan said. ......"........
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapc...ire/index.html
Linear Mode
