Indian festival stampede claims dozens of lives

At least 32 people have been killed and 15 others injured in a stampede during an important Hindu festival in India.

Indian officials said the accident occurred on Friday near a public park in the city of Patna in the eastern Bihar state and that the fatalities were mostly women and children.

Dussehra - a festival during which effigies of the demon king Ravana are burnt to mark the victory of good over evil - draws huge crowds at the Gandhi Maidan in Patna, the administrative capital of Bihar.

Reports said rumours of a live electricity cable falling on people prompted the stampede, with people rushing towards the exit as they were leaving at the end of the Dussehra celebrations.

In addition to the dead, at least 15 people were taken to hospital. Police were examining closed-circuit television pictures to determine the cause.