Large crowds gathered yesterday around a mobile phone mast in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu after locals spotted Jesus Christ atop the structure, Kampala's The Monitor reports.

Witness Eric Odongo, who claimed he "first saw clouds on top of the mast and that Jesus appeared to be standing amidst clouds", told the paper: "I saw Jesus standing on top of the mast. He was standing between two people and was putting on a white cloth. His hair was black."

The mast was soon surrounded by an excited mob, looking to cop an Ash Wednesday eyeful of Jesus, with some exclaiming: "Come, come, come look over there, between those two bars, do you see him, do you see him...? He [Jesus] is standing between those two bars."

Reporters attending the scene sadly failed to confirm the sighting. Herbert Omoding, the local assistant engineer for telecoms outfit MTN, which operates the mast, admitted he'd "seen nothing unusual".

Gulu's Anglican bishop Nelson Onono Onweng recounted: "I was nearby when a young man came telling us that Jesus had been sighted on the MTN mast. We all laughed him off but when I was leaving the town I saw thousands of people around the mast."

He added: "The Bible does not tell us when Jesus will appear. It does not tell us that he will appear on a mast or on a mango tree. So I don't believe in the whole thing."