Police say a lightning strike kills 14 people at a church service in a refugee camp in Uganda

CNN
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A lightning strike killed 14 people during a prayer service at a refugee camp in Uganda on Saturday, authorities in the East African country said.

Thirty-four others were injured in the attack in Lamwo district in northern Uganda, police said in a statement on Sunday.

“The victims, who have not yet been identified, had gathered for prayers when it began to rain around 5 p.m. and lightning struck at 5:30 p.m.,” Kituuma Rusoke, a police spokesman, said on social media.

The Palabek refugee camp is located on the Ugandan side of the country's border with South Sudan and, according to the Lamwo district, is home to around 80,000 people, most of whom have traveled from the country.

South Sudan continues to face instability since the civil war officially ended in 2020.

Lightning strikes are particularly common in the central belt of Africa and have occasionally caused fatal incidents in Uganda.

In 2020, the BBC reported that ten children were killed in a strike in northwestern Uganda. And in 2011, another strike killed 18 children and their teachers, Reuters reported.