'Celebratory' gunfire at Saudi wedding brings down electricity cable killing 23 women and children

More than 20 women and children have died and dozens others were injured when traditional celebratory gunfire at a Saudi wedding brought down an electric cable causing a fire to break out.

A total of 23 people - believed to be mostly women - were electrocuted when bullets caused the high-voltage power line to fall on to a metal door at the wedding in eastern Saudi Arabia.

According to local news reports sparks from the cable caused an electrical fire in a women's only marquee at the wedding party in Ain Badr, near Abqaiq.

Strict rules of gender segregation in the conservative Islamic kingdom mean women are typically kept separate from men at weddings. Children at the wedding would have been with the female guests.

The tragedy at the party near Abqaiq - which left at least 30 more guests injured - occurred less than a month after Saudi Arabia banned the shooting of firearms at weddings, a popular tradition in tribal areas of the conservative Islamic kingdom.

Hundreds of people are understood to have been inside the courtyard of the home in Ain Badr when the blaze broke out.

Eastern Province official Abdullah Khashman said all those killed were from the same tribe.

A further 30 wedding guests were injured in the incident near Abqaiq, a centre of the Saudi energy industry.

'At the wedding, the cable fell on a metal door and the 23 people who died were all electrocuted,' Mr Khashman said.

Eastern Province governor Prince Mohammed bin Fahd ordered an investigation into the incident, the official Saudi Press Agency said.

Earlier this month Saudi officials introduced a zero-tolerance policy on the culturally accepted practice of shooting firearms at weddings and other special occasions, following previous accidental deaths.

Interior Minister Prince Ahmad Bin Abdul Aziz assigned police to monitor palaces, wedding halls and relaxation areas to ensure full compliance with the law, the Saudi Press Agency reported at the time.

The announcement was made following an increase in fatal and serious injuries as a result of celebratory gunfire, the agency said.

Wednesday 31 October 2012

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