Ugandan police and rescue workers arrive at the church where the roof collapsed in Kampala, Uganda, March 8, 2006. At least 21 people were killed and more than 20 others injured when the church roof collapsed during torrential rains in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on Wednesday, police said.  (Xinhua/Reuters)

A man grimaces in pain as he rests along with others wounded when a church roof collapsed outside a hospital in Kampala, Uganda, March 8, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters)

     KAMPALA, March 9 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 26 people were killed in a church collapse accident overnight in a downpour in the northern suburb of Kampala, hospital official said Thursday.

    "Six people died after they were rushed in among 89 injured last night," Ssekabira Eliphaz, the official of Mulago Hospital told Xinhua, bringing the death toll to at least 26, including 20 victims, on the site.

    "The remaining 83 injured were still under treatment, most of them in severe conditions," the official of the biggest and best equipped hospital of the capital added.

    Plain clothe police restrained access to the clinic section while dozens of families waited in the hallway in anxiety. Another hospital official said the wounds seemed not serious, but they were deep cuts in most cases.

    This was the deadliest church accident in the east African country, of which two-thirds of its 27 million population were Christians. Two collapses in 2002 and 2003 killed four and two people respectively.

    Ugandan authorities vowed to investigate the malpractice in this accident after the roof of the unfinished building fell off in a thunderstorm Wednesday evening.

    Witnesses said some 200 prayers were trapped in the rubble with dozens rushed in to seek shelter from the heavy rainfall. Enditem