Jaipur, July 6: Tragedy struck a pre-wedding feast at a Jaipur hotel this afternoon when a false ceiling came crashing down on people, killing three elderly men, one of them the bride's great-uncle.

At least 30 of the 150-odd guests in Jasmine, the third-floor banquet hall in Hotel Fortune Park Bella Casa, were injured in the 2pm collapse.

Additional SP (Jaipur east) Hanuman Prasad said the three men who died had been identified as Nemichand Jain, 76, the bride's great-uncle; Keshav Dev, 80, and Satyanarayan, 70, all from Mumbai.

Nemichand's son Rajesh, who runs a Mumbai-based media service firm, said his father was having lunch when the "false roof gave way".

"He is old and probably did not get the time to move away fast. I was not present at that time. I was escorting guests from hotel Marriott across the road, where the ring ceremony was held. My uncle Keshav Dev, also from Mumbai, passed away. We are in a state of shock. The bride is my niece (cousin's daughter). The wedding is scheduled tomorrow but the family will decide whether it will go ahead or not."

Rajesh's family had come to attend the wedding of Manjusha Goenka, daughter of a businessman. The family of the groom, whose name could not be known, is from Surat.

The ceiling, made of cement, plaster of Paris and thick glass, had crashed with a thud, leading to darkness and chaos. As people ran for cover, many tripped, entangled in the electrical wiring that too had come down with the ceiling. Neither the bride nor the groom, both 26, was present when the mishap occurred.

Jaipur collector Siddharth Mahajan said the hotel premises had been vacated and sealed. "Engineers and investigating agencies are working to find the reason behind the sudden collapse."

The hotel, a five minutes' drive from the airport on a main road, has 109 well-furnished rooms with all the modern amenities. The lowest room tariff is Rs 9,500 a day.

No hotel official could be reached even before the building was sealed.