"These incidents are getting more severe and their frequency suggests that extreme and abnormal weather conditions caused by climate change have a lot to do with these tragedies"

Three teenagers died when they were struck by lightning in KwaChezu, Nkandla, northern KwaZulu-Natal, on Wednesday evening, authorities said.

"Two of them aged 13 and 14 and from the Dlamini family, and one from the Zwane family, died instantly when they were struck by lightning while returning from a local tuck-shop," provincial co-operative governance department spokesman Lennox Mabaso said.

It brought to more than 10 the number of people killed by lightning in the province in the past few weeks.

MEC Nomusa Dube, who would visit the teenagers' families soon, sent condolences to their families.

"These incidents are getting more severe and their frequency suggests that extreme and abnormal weather conditions caused by climate change have a lot to do with these tragedies," she said.