A lightning strike killed at least 16 people and injured dozens more at a Seventh-Day Adventist church in Rwanda on Saturday, an official said.

Most of the victims died instantly when lightning hit the church in the southern district of Nyaruguru, local mayor Habitegeko Francois told AFP.

Two of the dead died from their injuries on arrival at the hospital and 140 people were rushed to hospital and health centres around the district.

The weather accident in the mountainous region near the border with Burundi took place around midday on Saturday while parishioners of the town of Gihemvu were at a church service.

“Doctors say that three more churchgoers are in critical condition in the hospital,” Mr Francois told AFP on Sunday.

The deadly church incident comes less than two weeks after the closure of more than 700 Rwandan churches for failing to comply with building regulations and for noise pollution.