Flags are flying at half-mast throughout Sweden following the death of sixty people, mainly teenagers, in a fire at a discotheque in the southern city of Gothenburg.

About one-hundred-and-ninety other people were injured.

The fire swept throught a Macedonian cultural centre in the city where about four-hundred young people -- many of them Macedonian and Somali immigrants -- were attending a Halloween dance.

Some reports suggest the hall was only licensed to hold one-hundred-and-fifty people.

Police have played down suggestions that the fire was started deliberately, saying there is no evidence at this stage to suggest that arson was to blame.

The Swedish authorities say identifying the victims is proving extrememly difficult; many bodies were badly burned and some people had false identity passes as they were under the fifteen-year minimum age limit for the dance