A fire that ripped through a tent in which wedding celebrations were taking place killed 41 women and children in the worst civil tragedy in Kuwaiti history.

Firefighters said that the blaze on Saturday night took barely three minutes to turn the large ceremonial tent from a scene of family celebration into a charnel house, with many of the victims so badly burnt that investigators will have to carry out DNA tests to identify the victims. It is not known if the bride was among the dead.

The fire, possibly caused by an electrical fault, broke out in a tent reserved for women and children. In the panic they fled and trampled one another.

Most of the bodies of the thirty-five women and six children were found at the entrance to the structure, which was reduced to a metal frame full of charred chairs and tables. Many of the chairs were stuffed with flammable material. Efforts to evacuate the tent had been hampered by the number of anxious relatives who gathered at the scene.

“It was a horrific scene, with bodies and many shoes stuck to the ground at the only exit — they must have trampled over one another,” Brigadier- General Jassem al-Mansouri, the head of the fire department, said.

“Most of the bodies were charred, many could not be immediately recognised. Forensic officials are working to identify the bodies.”

Dozens of firefighters went to the town of Jahra, 50 miles west of the capital, Kuwait City, but local media said that rescue efforts were slowed down because the tent quickly collapsed on top of the screaming women and the power supply failed.

There were about 180 people in the tent, which was made of cotton and did not have an emergency exit.

Investigators were looking into the causes of the fire, which could have been started by a short circuit in the lights and air conditioning, candles or burners for serving food, or coals used for burning incense.

The Health Ministry said that 76 people had been taken to hospital, some of them with severe burns.

Local media reported that some of the victims were relatives of people who died in a similar tragedy in the town last year, when two women were burnt to death and several were hurt after another tent caught fire.

Most wedding parties in the conservative, oil-rich kingdom take place in separate tents for men and women, with no alcohol served. Entertainment usually includes buffet dinners, as well as singing and dancing. The children stay with the women.

Politicians in Kuwait City called for an inquiry into the incident. There have been calls in the past for a ban on traditional wedding tents because of the difficulty of enforcing safety regulations.

Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait, ordered that no expense should be spared in efforts to treat the survivors and comfort relatives of the dead. He will not receive wellwishers, as he traditionally does, to mark the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on August 22.

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