Celebratory gunfire at Saudi wedding brings down cable killing 23 people

Last month Saudi Arabia banned the shooting of firearms at weddings, a popular tradition in tribal areas

Celebratory gunfire at a wedding party in Saudi Arabia brought down an electric cable, killing 23 people – most of them women and children, a local civil defence official said.

The official Saudi Press Agency said that a special government committee would investigate the incident in the Eastern province, which took place on Tuesday night.

"At the wedding, the cable fell on a metal door and the 23 people who died were all electrocuted," Eastern province official Abdullah Khashman told Reuters.

A photograph of the aftermath of the accident, published on local newspapers' websites, showed a large courtyard strewn with fallen chairs and a pole in the middle supporting cables carrying lightbulbs.

All those killed were from the same tribe, Khashman said. Thirty others were injured in the incident near Abqaiq, a centre of the Saudi energy industry.

Saudi Arabia's codes require genders to be separated at most public events, including weddings.
Last month the kingdom banned the shooting of firearms at weddings, a popular tradition in tribal areas.
Eastern Province governor, Prince Mohammed bin Fahd, ordered an investigation into the incident, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.