A fire broke out in a women's tent at a Kuwaiti wedding party on Saturday killing at least 41 people, Kuwaiti media reported.

The private al-Rai television channel quoted the head of Kuwait's fire brigade Jassim al-Mansouri as saying 61 people were critically injured. The state news agency KUNA said 41 bodies had been recovered from the smouldering remains of the tent, in the al-Jahra district west of Kuwait City.

"The number of fatalities might increase due to the large number of injuries as result of a stampede that followed the outbreak of the fire at the tent that was packed with people at the wedding," Mr Mansouri told KUNA. He said authorities were investigating the cause of the blaze.

Weddings in Kuwait are mostly segregated, with women seated separately from men. Tents are often erected especially for the occasion.

An official later said the wedding tent, where the women and children died, had only one exit, , causing a stampede that compounded the death toll.

"Since the first spark of the fire, the attendees rushed to the tent's exit and we found the bodies at the exit, it was a very painful scene," Colonel Mohammed al-Saber, Interior Ministry spokesman, said yesterday.

"The tent, which had 13 pillars and could seat more than 200 people, unfortunately had only one exit," he said.

Kuwait banned wedding tents yesterday after the blaze tore through the women's tent at the wedding in the al-Jahra district, west of Kuwait city.

More than 70 people were injured in the blaze, which broke out at 1820 GMT on Saturday.