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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Josh Salisbury

At least 14 killed after lightning strike hits refugee camp in Uganda

Palabek refugee camp - (Oxfam)

A lightning strike on a church in a Ugandan refugee camp killed at least 14 people and injured 34 as they gathered for prayers on Saturday.

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

Among the victims were juveniles, including a nine-year-old girl, officers said. The children were hit while taking a break from a game of football.

"The victims... had gathered for prayers when the rain started around 5.00 p.m. (2pm GMT), and the lightning thunder struck at 5.30 p.m.," police said.

Police did not identify the nationalities of the victims but the camp and others in the region is mainly home to 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.

Officers said there were no reports of fire breaking out following the strike.

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

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