Three killed, five injured in lightning strikes across Jharkhand

india

Updated: Apr 22, 2019 08:43 IST

Three persons, including a 10-year-old girl, died while five others were injured due to lightning strike in two separate incidents in Jharkhand’s Gumla district on Sunday.

The injured were admitted to the hospital for treatment, police said.

The first lightning strike took place at Chota Ajiyatu village under Ghagra police station around 1.30 pm, where it killed two people and injured one.

The deceased were identified as Mawji Oraon, 60, and Gulina Kumari, 10. The injured was identified as eight-year-old Roshan Oraon.

Ghagra police station in-charge Upendra Mahto said Oraon along with his grand children went to collect woods from a nearby forest.

“As the thundery development started, all three took shelter under a mango tree. Lightning struck the tree and all three were found lying on ground. They were taken to Ghaghra community hospital where doctor declared the 60-year-old man and Gulina brought dead. Roshan is, however, out of danger,” he said.

The second incident took place at Koijara village, some 12-km from Gumla district headquarter, which reportedly killed one 37-year-old Phulchand Gope. Villagers said Gope along with his father, two daughters and a son were unloading sand from a tractor.

As rain started, they went under a tree but struck by a strong lightning.

The villagers said they were taken to Sadar hospital where doctors declared Gope as dead. However, police were verifying the incident till filing of the report.

Lightning has been the most lethal killer in Jharkhand over the years with at least 1,800 people dying due to lightening in past 12 years, according to figure of state disaster management department and united nation development programme (UNDP).

Experts, however, say the numbers are much higher as several deaths in remote Jharkhand go unreported.

Grim situation of lightning could be assumed from the fact that in one year, on an average, lightning kills one person on every second day on an average.

For last 12 years, Jharkhand has been losing 150 lives annually but it could not develop any mechanism to keep a proper check on it.