The government of Zimbabwe will cover funeral costs of eight church elders who drowned during a religious ceremony in central Zimbabwe over the weekend.

Nathan Nkomo, the director of the state disaster agency, said the men died during a race to retrieve a rod from the Mazowe River in Rushinga about 300km (186 miles) north-east of the capital, Harare.

The competition was to determine which one of the men would baptise the congregation.

Eight men drowned, two were rescued and no-one retrieved the stick, Mr Nkomo said.

He added that cases of this nature were rare and warned people to draw lessons from the tragedy.

A member of the popular religious sect told a local state-owned newspaper that the ritual had been conducted in previous years without incident.

The families of the men aged between 21 and 50 will receive funeral assistance in the form of cash, coffins, food and fuel to transport the bodies.

The deceased were members of Vadzizi VaJeso Apostolic sect which mixes Christian and traditional beliefs.