A lightning bolt struck a thatch-roofed temple in the remote mountain town of Guacheca, Colombia, killing 11 members of the Wiwa ethnic group on Sunday night, the Associated Press reported. The indigenous people of Colombia comprise about 3.4 percent of the country's population and belong to 87 different tribes.
A traditional ritual of spiritual harmonization, led by tribe elders known as "Mamos," was being conducted by about 60 members of a remote indigenous tribe along Colombia's Caribbean coast around midnight when the electrical storm hit the thatched hut, causing a fire that burnt the temple to the ground, according to Luis Quintero, operational commander of Santa Marta Police.
The Wiwa tribe is known to perform spiritual harmonization rituals when it encounters internal or external difficulties, including internecine conflict and environmental problems, The Colombian Indigenous Agency (Onic) stated.
Fifteen members of the Wiwa tribe that live high in the coastal Sierra Nevada range were confirmed to have suffered burns, with six of them reported to be in serious condition, military officials said on Monday.
The Colombian army immediately evacuated the injured people and flew them to hospitals in the nearby city of Santa Maria on Colombia's northern coast to receive treatment for second and third degree burns, BBC News reported.
Mauricio Blanco, an indigenous administrative official, said the tragedy was unprecedented, according to Al-Jazeera.
"Yes, we've had small tragedies from flashes of lighting that have happened in the mountains, but not like this, of this magnitude, that hit directly over a ceremonial house belonging to the people of the Sierra," he said.
Following the tragic incident, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos took to Twitter to express his condolences with the indigenous tribe.
"We show our condolences and solidarity with the indigenous people who were affected by lightning in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, which caused the unfortunate death of 11 of our citizens and another 15 people were injured," he said.
