At least 16 people were killed, most of them children, when a fire broke out at a packed amusement park arcade in India, officials have said.
Prabhav Joshi, the district collector of Rajkot, in the western state of Gujarat, told AFP that 16 people had died in the fire and nine were hospitalised.
Rescue operations were continuing and the toll could rise further, he added.
More than 300 people were in the two-storey structure at the TRP amusement and theme park when the blaze broke out as it was a summer holiday weekend, Rajkot fire officer Ilesh Kher told reporters.
“People got trapped as a temporary structure at the facility collapsed near the entrance, making it difficult for the people to come out,” he said.
The flames spread rapidly because of its flammable material, he added.
Pictures from the scene showed a corrugated metal structure largely in ruins.
It took nearly an hour to douse the fire, with about a dozen ambulances carrying the injured to hospital.
Police at the site said the bodies of the dead were heavily burned, making identification difficult.
Fire department officials said a short-circuit was suspected as the cause.
Gujarat is the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who posted on X: “Extremely distressed by the fire mishap in Rajkot. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones. Prayers for the injured.”
