BUJUMBURA, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and 18 others were injured in a thunder strike on Saturday in central Burundi, police said on Sunday.

The thunder strike that occurred during torrential rains on Saturday afternoon hit a social event at a village in Buraza Commune in Gitega Province, Police Spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye told Xinhua in a telephone interview.

He said that the three died on the spot while 18 others were injured, many of them traumatized.