Kampala: At least 14 people, including several children, were killed in a refugee camp in Uganda when a lightning strike struck a makeshift church in which they were sheltering, local officials said on Sunday.
About 50 people took refuge in a church in Palabek refugee camp in northern Uganda on Saturday evening when a severe storm hit the area.
William Commish, a local official in the Lamu district, told AFP that 14 people died when lightning struck the metal roof, including five girls and nine boys between the ages of 14 and 18. He added: “There are many wounded people being admitted to health centers.”
Most of the refugees were from the Nuer community in South Sudan. “The government is working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other agencies to provide the necessary assistance to survivors,” Ugandan Minister of Refugee Affairs and Disaster Preparedness Hilary Oneke told AFP.
He added, “The government team is already on the ground to help deliver the bodies to their families.”
Uganda has suffered several lightning-related deaths in recent years. A lightning strike at an elementary school killed at least 18 students in 2011, and nine teenagers were killed in an incident in August 2020.
In February 2020, four endangered mountain gorillas were killed by an apparent lightning strike in Mgahinga National Park in southwestern Uganda.