MADRAS, India (AP) -- A fire tore through a wedding hall in southern India on Friday, killing 45 people, including the groom, and injuring the bride and dozens of guests.
The cause of the blaze was unclear, but police speculated that an electrical short ignited the thatch-roofed marriage pavilion on the terrace of the building in Srirangam, a famous Hindu temple town 200 miles south of Madras.
``The fire started suddenly and spread all over the roof very quickly,'' said S. Rangayyan, a co-worker of the groom who attended the wedding.
Witnesses said the thatched roof caught fire and fell on people's heads, said Santhana Krishnan, a state agricultural officer whose aunt and uncle were injured at the wedding and were in intensive care at a hospital.
Some victims were burned, while others were crushed in the stampede down the staircase.
``The stair was just two feet wide. Only one person can go through it at a time,'' Rangayyan said. ``Old people, women and children could not force their way out.''
Officials had recovered 45 bodies, said K. Manivasan, the top administrator for Tiruchi district in southern Tamil Nadu state.
He said about 60 people were admitted to various hospitals, some with burn injuries and others with injuries from the stampede.
The bride, Jaishree Ramanathan, 35, a schoolteacher, was in serious condition with burns, Manivasan said. The groom, Guru Raghavender, 38, worked at an insurance company. Of the dead, 20 were women and six were children, Manivasan said.
District Police Commissioner Sunil Kumar Singh said the fire was probably caused by an electrical short circuit, although officials were still investigating.
Press Trust of India quoted other police officers as saying that a string of garland lights that normally decorate Indian weddings had sparked the blaze. Some witnesses told TV stations a man recording the wedding on video had just plugged in a high intensity light when the fire started.
The fire broke out at 8:45 a.m. The wedding was taking place early in the morning because it was an auspicious day in the Hindu calendar, and marriage halls were fully booked in the town. Rangayyan said weddings were normally held in a hall on the ground floor, but a temporary pavilion was erected on the terrace because there were so many guests.
The building was 300 feet from the 10th century Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, the main attraction in the town.
Tragedies at weddings in India are common, although they usually involve overloaded buses and trucks full of wedding guests that run off roads, or boats carrying the wedding party that capsize. Overcrowding is common at public events in India, the world's second most-populous nation, with more than 1 billion people.
AP Correspondent S. Srinivasan in Bangalore, India contributed to this story.
