At least 27 women and children were killed when they crushed out of a wedding ceremony due to a fire triggering a stampede and wall collapse in eastern Pakistan, a police officer said Sunday.

An electric wire fell on a house where a large number of women and children were celebrating a wedding Saturday night near the city of Dera Ghazi Khan in the eastern Pakistani province of Punjab, police officer Khadim Hussain told local Geo television.

The wire fell on the building due to fireworks by the participants, which caused stampede, he said, adding that some 40 people mostly women and children were injured who were shifted to the Dera Ghazi Khan Hospital and other nearby hospitals.

Meanwhile, the state-run PTV television put the death toll at 18 and the injured at 45.

Witnesses said that several injured are in critical condition as they were badly burned.

Editor: Yan