Roundup: Lightning kills 14, wounds 140 in church in southern Rwanda

KIGALI, March 11 (Xinhua) -- At least 14 people were killed and around 140 others injured when a church was hit by lightning in southern Rwanda on Saturday, sources said on Sunday.

Some of the injured were in critical condition, Francois Habitegeko, mayor of Nyaruguru District, Southern Province, told a media briefing on Saturday.

The death toll of the tragedy remains at 14 on Sunday, Governor of Southern Province Marie Rose Mureshyankwano confirmed to Xinhua.

Volunteers and Rwanda Red Cross staff have been helping the affected families in burying the victims, said a Red Cross official who requested anonymity.

Some 70 of the injured were admitted to Munini hospital, and 58 of them have been discharged, said Innocent Ndebeyaho, director of the hospital, on Sunday.

One of them was referred to University Teaching Hospital of Butare, a national referral hospital, he said.

About 70 others were taken to other health facilities and have been discharged, he added.

The lightning hit through the open back door of the church, affected those sat behind and killed all people who had phones with them, Ndebeyaho quoted survivors as saying.

The lightning also damaged the back wall of the church, said the director.

Southern Province is prone to lightning, according to governor Mureshyankwano.

Two more people were reportedly killed by lightning on Sunday in separate cases in the districts of Gisagara and Huye in the province, the governor said.

In another lightning strike on Friday, two people, including a primary school pupil, were killed and 16 others injured in Nyaruguru District, bringing to 18 the total number of people killed in the province in the past three days. Enditem