It was a case of a shameful "wrong send" that resulted in the tragic death of a pastor.

Pastor Letsego of Christ Embassy in Limpopo, South Africa reportedly hanged himself in shame after he mistakenly sent photos of his genitals to members of his church using the WhatsApp texting service in mobile phones.

According to the online news source Live Monitor, the married pastor intended to send the pictures to his mistress who, it is said, is a member of the same church.

Worse, the news source said the pastor sent a message that reads "Wife is away, it's all yours tonight" along with the photos.

To his utter dismay, he reportedly realised his mistake right after pressing the send button of his mobile phone.

Members of the church group who received the photos and message were shocked and outraged. They tried to call up the pastor, who wouldn't answer. The pastor then left the group.

The following day, he was found hanging in his rented church house, Live Monitor reported.

"Pastor's antics have always been a cause for concern. He was always seen in the company of one of the deacons named Miriam and we suspected there was more to their friendship than meets the eye," said one of Pastor Letsego's congregants who declined to be named.

"Quizzed by his wife and congregants, he would shrug off the allegations and say as a pastor he was a father to everyone and Miriam was his favourite daughter," the congregant added.

Other pastors have also found themselves enmeshed in extramarital affairs that likewise ended in tragedy.

In June, an Indiana pastor was believed to have committed suicide after he was charged with soliciting sex from a minor, The Christian Post reported.

David James Brown, the 46-year-old senior pastor at First Christian Church in Jeffersonville, Indiana, was found hanging inside an Attic Self Storage unit in Marietta, Georgia. Investigators found no evidence of foul play.

Last year, John Gibson, a pastor and seminary professor of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, was also believed to have taken his own life after his name was exposed by hackers as one of the users of the extramarital affair website Ashley Madison.

"He talked about depression. He talked about having his name on there, and he said he was just very, very sorry," Gibson's wife, Christi, revealed. "What we know about him is that he poured his life into other people, and he offered grace and mercy and forgiveness to everyone else, but somehow he couldn't extend that to himself."