18 Students, 1 Teacher Killed by Uganda Lightning

Strikes have killed at least 34 in recent weeks
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 29, 2011 10:29 AM CDT
Uganda Lightning Strikes Kill 18 Students, 1 Teacher
Lightning strikes have killed many in Uganda in recent weeks.   (AP Photo/The Canton Repository, Scott Heckel)

Eighteen students and a teacher died after lightning struck their school in Uganda's midwest, police say. An additional 51 students between the ages of 7 and 16 were injured in yesterday's incident at the Runyanya primary school, about 160 miles west of Uganda's capital. Another school 200 miles northwest of Kampala was also hit by lightning yesterday, injuring 37 students and two teachers, an official says.

Meteorology experts say school buildings are being hit because they don't have lightning conductors and are built on high ground. In the past few weeks, lightning strikes around the country have killed at least 34 people, 15 of them in just one week. (More Uganda stories.)

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