Eleven members of a remote indigenous tribe along Colombia's Caribbean coast have been killed after lightning struck a thatch-roofed hut where they were gathered.

At least 15 other members of the Wiwa tribe, who live high in the coastal Sierra Nevada range, suffered burns - six of them seriously.

"It's a terrible scene, it was reduced to ashes, everything was burned," Colonel Luis Quintero, Operational Commander of Santa Marta Police, said.

"Thank God, as it has been said, they were able to come to their senses after this strike when the lightning hit, and we were able to evacuate the majority of the people there."

The electrical storm happened on Sunday night as the tribe was performing a traditional ceremony accompanied by elders known as Mamos.

Colombian President Juan-Manuel Santos confirmed the deaths and expressed his condolences, ordering the military to evacuate injured tribe members who otherwise would have had to trek for six miles to the nearest road.

"Our solidarity is with the indigenous community of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta," he said on Twitter.

Most of the injured suffered second and third-degree burns.