14 people killed by lightning strike in Uganda, police say

A lightning strike on a church on Uganda killed at least 14 people and injured 34 as they gathered for prayers over the weekend, police said.

The incident occurred in the Palabek refugee camp in Lamwo district in northern Ugandan, police said in a post on the X platform.

"The victims... had gathered for prayers when the rain started around 5pm (3am Sunday NZT), and the lightning thunder struck at 5.30pm," police said.

Police did not identify the nationalities of the victims but the camp and others in the region mostly hosts refugees from South Sudan. Most of those refugees had fled during a bloody civil war that gripped the country shortly after its independence in 2011.

The victims were mostly juveniles and included a nine-year-old girl, police said.

Fatal lightning strikes are common in the east African country, especially in schools where structures rarely have lightning conductors.

- Reuters