At least eight people have died after a bolt of lightning struck a small-scale goldmine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an official said Monday.

"Thirty people were struck, including seven who were killed instantly and an eighth who died of their injuries in hospital," local official Christophe Ikando told AFP.

The lightning strike occurred in the northeastern town of Dungu in the Haut-Uele province, near the border with South Sudan, under heavy rains that battered the area where the victims were mining for gold.

According to human rights groups, such strikes are common in the gold-rich eastern region.

In 2016, a primary school was struck by lighting, killing three pupils and severely injuring a teacher.

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15 injured as lightning strikes French music festival
Strasbourg, France (AFP) Sept 2, 2017
Fifteen people were injured, two of them seriously, when lightning struck a tent during a music festival in northeast France on Saturday, local officials and reports said. "The lightning struck in several areas during" the Vieux Canal festival in the northeast town of Azerailles, the regional council said in a statement. A woman in her 60s and a 44-year-old man were said to be in serious ... read more

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