Celebratory Gunfire at Saudi Wedding Cuts Cable, 23 Electrocuted

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

Celebratory gunfire at Saudi wedding cuts cable, 23 electrocuted

RIYADH | Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:11am EDT

(Reuters) - Celebratory gunfire at a wedding party in eastern Saudi Arabia on Tuesday night brought down an electric cable, killing 23 people, a local civil defense official said.

"At the wedding, the cable fell on a metal door and the 23 people who died were all electrocuted," Eastern Province official Abdullah Khashman said by phone.

A photograph of the aftermath of the accident, published on local newspapers' websites showed a large courtyard strewn with fallen chairs and a pole in the middle supporting cables carrying lightbulbs.

- snip -

Saudi Arabia banned the shooting of firearms at weddings, a popular tradition in tribal areas of the conservative Islamic kingdom, last month.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/31/us-saudi-wedding-electrocuted-idUSBRE89U0FJ20121031

[proReality]

1. Maybe now they'll switch over to fireworks.

That's so much prettier for a wedding celebration than dead bodies.

[lexx21]

2. Nothing says wedding day bliss like an AK47 n/t

[AlbertCat]

3. Celebratory gunfire

What the hell....

"a popular tradition in tribal areas of the conservative Islamic kingdom"

Is there any reason for it to NOT be popular?! PAR-TAY!

[LiberalEsto]

11. In the U.S., some people shoot guns on New Year's Eve

I seem to recall that Detroit was one place where that was the custom.

[Freddie Stubbs]

21. Miami:

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-12-29/news/fl-miami-new-years-gunfire-20111229_1_celebratory-gunfire-bullets-fall-mayor-tomas-regalado

[heaven05]

4. well

I never understood all that type of firing of weapons because what goes up must come down. See it all the time in news from that area. Common sense, to me, is a key factor in living.

[WeekendWarrior]

5. What did they do before they had guns? nt

[Po_d Mainiac]

7. Camel Farts n/t

[valerief]

13. They probably just clapped. Like civilized people. nt

[Remmah2]

6. Damn that NRA, will they ever learn. nt

nt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Aljazeera says

that the people were killed by the ensuing fire, not by electrocution. Actually, I have no idea what it is they are trying to say. I hope they edit the article to get the cause of death right.

Blaze kills Saudi Arabia wedding guests

Women and children perish in Eastern Province after celebratory gunfire brings down power line, local media say

At least 25 people have been killed by electric shock in a wedding in eastern Saudi Arabia, civil defence officials and local media say.

Celebratory gunfire brought down an electric cable at a house in Ain Badr village where the wedding was held on Tuesday night, Abdullah Khashman, an Eastern Province official, said.

Thirty others were injured in the incident near Abqaiq, a centre of the Saudi energy industry.

Some Saudi media reports said the blaze erupted inside a tent, killing at least 23 women and children. The kingdom's conservative codes require genders to be separated at most public events, including weddings.

The media cited civil defence officials as saying that celebratory gunfire brought down a power line that touched off the fire.

[jsr]

9. Oh well

[leftyohiolib]

10. see, guns dont kill people power lines kill people

[valerief]

12. Guns don't kill people. Guns that cut live wires kill people. Oh, well. If they hadn't used a gun

to cut the cable, they'd have used a knife or something else.

[Aristus]

14. Damn. I wouldn't have done that...

[slackmaster]

15. Basic gun safety should be taught in public schools

And madrassas.

[truthisfreedom]

16. Tragedy.

[hockeynut57]

17. nature does have a way of weeding out the dumb ones nt

[magical thyme]

18. yeah, my new neighbors in Maine tried celebrating with their guns

right by their trailer just a couple months ago. That was after an evening of celebrating with newly legal fireworks right up until 10:59pm (the local ordinances says stop at 10pm).

Happily for me, my dogs and my horse, and our neighbors, the cops were in their driveway within a few minutes. Haven't heard or seen any "celebrations" from them since.

[itsrobert]

19. "accident"

I don't think so.

[valerief]

20. Accident like drunk driving fatalities are accidents.

Accident like "misplaced" Democratic voter registration ballots are accidents.

Accident like Fox News party mislabeling graphics are accidents.

Accident like Frankenstorms are accidents.

[MADem]

22. The Saudis should come up with a confetti cannon. You're always going to have some idiot doing this

and it doesn't just happen in SA, either. Give people cool looking faux weapons that fire off different colors of paper--maybe that will mitigate this problem.

[Clouseau2]

23. Tradition: Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid.

Obligatory despair.com reference ...

http://www.despair.com/tradition.html

[CreekDog]

24. Celebretorty Gunfire is for idiots

the stupidest people on earth participate in "Celebratory Gunfire".

[Bosonic]

25. Dolts vs Volts

standard result.

[AsahinaKimi]

26. bang! bang! bang!

what could go wrong?

[johnfunk]

27. Evolution in action, amped up to 11

Stupid behavior kills.

[harmonicon]

29. Unfortunately, innocent people could have been killed.

It has many hallmarks of what could otherwise be a great Darwin Award though.

[skamaria]

28. Wow!

I need to send my 12 year old grandson over there to teach them some gun safety.