Lightning Strike Takes Eight Lives

Bhubaneswar (Reporters Today Bureau): A total eight persons including three women and two minor boys died when lightning struck them in different parts of the State yesterday. Of them, five from Baleshwar district were killed whereas two from Bhadrak and one from Mayurbhanj died. Five other villagers with critical burn injuries have been undergoing treatment at the hospitals.

While working in a farm land in Basta block of Baleshwar district, the lightning strike occurred in which Pana Majhi and Chhabi Kalandi died on the spot. Four others, who were working nearby, sustained injuries and were rushed to the Basta hospital. In Jaleswara block, one Gajendra and Padana died when lightning struck them while taking cattle for grazing. Also, one woman died and three others were injured in the block.

In Mayurbhanj district, while returning home after finishing farm work Jayadeba from Talakunda village under Khunta police station became victim of the lightning strike and was killed on the spot. One Purna Chandra Sahoo and Gangadhara Malika in Bhadrak district sustained injuries in the lightning strike while working at their farmland. They were admitted to Basudebpur hospital where doctors declared them dead. Worth mentioning, on July 20 last year, a total of seven persons were killed in lightning strike in different places of Balasore district.