BHUBANESWAR/ATHAGARH/SAMBALPUR : At least 17 persons were killed by lightning strikes across the State on Monday taking the toll to 35 in the last 48 hours. Six of the deaths came in from Sambalpur and Cuttack districts. At least three persons were killed while working in the farm fields in Cuttack’s Athagarh sub-division. The victims were identified as Ashok Biswal (30), Santosh Rout (45) and Hadibandhu Sahoo. They were declared dead by doctors at Sub-Divisional Hospital in Athagarh.
Eight students of the sub-division headquarters were also struck by lightning and had to be hospitalised. They were released after treatment. All of them belonged to Rasrasikpur UGME UP School. President of the school was also hurt while taking the students to the hospital.In Sambalpur, three persons were struck by lightning whereas Bargarh recorded two more deaths. In neighbouring Deogarh district, another lightning casualty was reported.
Similarly in Mayurbhanj district, Bijay Kumar Nayak, a resident of Arapata village under Badasahi police limits, was killed by lightning strike. Nayak was struck when he was bathing his cow near a pond during the afternoon. In Khurda, Angul and Puri’s Astarnga, one dea
In Cuttack district today, three people were killed in lightning strikes in Kadalibada, Dorada and Manipur villages of Athgarh area, while one died in Nischintakoili area, they said.
Eight school students sustained burn injuries after lightning struck their school building in Athgarh area, sources said.
In Sambalpur district, lightning claimed the lives of three persons in Jagannathprasad, Kutasingha and Balasingha in Naktideul area, District Emergency Officer (DEO), Sanjeev Kumar Pujari said.
14-year-old boy died at Jhinkijhari, while the two others were killed at Andharua and Dhauli areas near Bhubaneswar, in Khurda district
In Deogarh, it was a school teacher who was killed near Kharumunda as lightning struck when he was returning after attending a meeting, officials said.
A farm labourer was killed in Arpata in Mayurbhanj after being hit by lightning when he was working in the paddy field, police said.