Uganda Church Collapse Kills 27

A brick wall at a partly constructed church collapsed onto the congregation at a Wednesday evening service during a rain storm in the Ugandan capital, killing at least 27 people, police and rescue officials said.

At least 20 injured people were reported hospitalized. There was no firm figure on how many others were hurt.

The Protestant evangelical church in a Kampala slum was under construction, and parishioners had set up a wooden and tin shack within the unfinished structure, where they were conducting their service, regional police Commander Grace Puryagumanawe said.

The police and the fire and rescue service said they were almost certain that all the dead and injured were removed from the debris.

Fire and rescue chief Joseph Mugisa said the wall collapsed during a thunderstorm with high winds and heavy rains. He said 27 people were killed.

"It was completely chaotic. Everyone was trying to get out; people were yelling and shouting; people were trying to carry out the injured," Mugisa said, describing his arrival at the scene.

There is no electric power in the slum, and witnesses who first came out of the slum said rescuers had burned plastic chairs to provide light for those digging through the wreckage. They said that after the chairs had all been burned rescuers had to give up the search until dawn.

But authorities believed no one was left in the rubble.

Police commander Puryagumanawe said, "We're going to investigate the poor build standards. We have already collected samples of the materials used."