UGANDA: Local officials said on Sunday that lightning struck a makeshift church where the Ugandan refugees were sheltering, killing at least 14 people, including several children.
When a severe storm struck the area on Saturday evening, approximately fifty people sought refuge in the church of the Palabek refugee camp in northern Uganda.
William Komech, the resident district commissioner for Lamwo region, told AFP that lightning struck its metal roof and killed 14 people, including five girls and nine boys between the ages of 14 and 18. He added, “Several injured people are being admitted to health facilities.”
The majority of the refugees belonged to the Nuer community in South Sudan. According to AFP, Uganda’s minister for refugees and disaster preparedness, Hillary Onek, “The government is working with UNHCR and other agencies are providing the necessary assistance to the survivors.”
He went on to say, “The government team is already on the ground assisting with the delivery of the bodies to their respective families.”
In recent years, several deaths attributed to lightning have occurred in Uganda. In 2011, a lightning strike at a primary school killed at least 18 students, and in August 2020, nine teenagers were killed.
