6 killed, 12 injured as lightning strikes Odisha village

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Khordha, Mar 18:

Six persons were killed and 12 others injured when lightning struck them at Jaripada village under Tangi police station limits in Odisha’s Khordha district this afternoon.

According to reports, some youths of Jaripada village were playing cricket on the outskirts of the village this afternoon. However, they took shelter under a roadside house as rain suddenly lashed.

All of a sudden lightning struck the house killing four youths on the spot. Following information, police rushed to the spot and admitted the injured youths at Tangi hospital where two more youths succumbed to their injuries.

The remaining injured were shifted to Khordha district headquarters hospital and Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar in the 108 ambulance after first aid treatment.

Of the three six deceased, three of have been identified as Rahul Nayak, Okila Khan and Bibhu Parida while the identity of the three others were not immediately known.

Sources in the hospital said that the age of the deceased and the injured would be around 10-21 years.

Meanwhile, senior district officials, including the collector and tehsildar, have rushed to the Tangi hospital where the bodies of the six youths have been kept.

It is most likely that the postmortem of the bodies will not take place today as the evening has already set in.

As per rules, no postmortem would be conducted after the sunset.

The Odisha government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1.5 lakh to each family of the deceased.

Announcing this in the State Assembly here, Parliamentary Affairs minister Bikram Keshari Arukh said that the state government would bear all expenses towards the treatment of the injured struck by lightling.