A roof collapsed during a wedding on Wednesday in northern Afghanistan killing 65 people, nearly all women and children, said police.

Most of the dead were women celebrating the wedding on the top floor of a mud brick house packed with guests, said Jawad Bashart, spokesman of the Baghlan provincial police. Only one adult male was killed.?

He added that 12 children were among the dead and another 40 people were wounded in the remote Jelga district.

Women and men traditionally have separate celebrations at weddings.

Dr. Salim Rasouli, the provincial health chief, said that the incident happened in the afternoon but that the district was very far and the road was unsafe to travel at night.

"Unfortunately it is a very remote area. We don't have any access. The nearest clinic to that area is in the neighboring district," he said.

Rasouli said he had heard six women had been brought to the hospital in the neighboring district for treatment by their families.

Houses in rural Afghanistan are traditionally built with mud bricks and wooden beams. Access to health care is also poor, with few clinics or hospitals and mostly unpaved roads.