Groom among 45 dead in marriage hall fire in India

Saturday, January 24, 2004

MADRAS, India -- Panicked guests tried to fight their way through flames and stampeded down a narrow hallway after fire struck a makeshift wedding hall Friday in southern India, killing 45 people -- including the groom. The bride, one of about 60 people injured, was hospitalized in serious condition. The early morning blaze fire occurred in Srirangam, a famous Hindu temple town 200 miles south of Madras, the capital of southern Tamil Nadu state. Police speculated that an electrical fault ignited the thatch roof of a pavilion set up for the party on the terrace of a one-story building.

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