Bharatpur wedding disaster: At least 24 dead after wall collapses onto guests in northwest India

Another 28 people were injured and taken to hospital

People gather near the debris where at least 24 people were killed when a wall collapsed at a wedding in the Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, India (EPA)

A building wall has collapsed on to guests at a wedding in western India, killing at least 24 people, officials said.

Hundreds of guests were having dinner or assembling on outdoor lawns when a strong dust storm blew into the area, forcing people on the lawns to go indoors.

Then the 80ft-long wall collapsed on to people inside the wedding hall, Bharatpur district magistrate NK Gupta told reporters.

Another 28 people were injured and taken to hospital, police officer Anil Tank told Press Trust of India. He said police had registered a case of culpable homicide against the building owner and were questioning him.

The district is in Rajasthan state nearly 125 miles south of New Delhi.

Building collapses are common in India, where high demand for housing and lax regulations have encouraged some builders to cut corners, use substandard materials or add unauthorised extra floors.

In 2013, a building being constructed illegally in Mumbai caved in, killing 74 people in the country's worst building collapse in decades.