Lightning kills 11 indigenous Indians in remote Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia–Lightning killed 11 indigenous Colombians and injured 15 others during a meeting of Kogi Indians in a remote mountainous area in the country’s north, the government said Monday.

The Kogi leaders, who were gathered at a community in the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta range in Magdalena department, were killed by “an electrical charge from a lightning bolt,” the national public defender’s office said.

“Tribal leaders were meeting at the moment when this natural phenomenon took place,” the office, charged with protecting Colombia’s human rights, said.

The statement added that a community advocate has been sent to the area and that a group of regional officials would accompany the injured to the Caribbean city of Santa Marta for treatment.

Santa Maria is a five-hour drive from the mountain community.