MALAPPURAM: A routine evening outing turned tragic for seven friends after a lightning strike left four of them dead at the Panthallur hill viewpoint at Mankada in Malappuram on Tuesday.
The victims – all school and college students aged between 16 and 22 – were residents of Vellila, located around 6km from Mankada. Rahees, 20, Bahas, 18, Siyad, 16, and Fahad, 22, are the deceased. The three injured youths – Fahad’s brother Roshan, 20, Rahees’s brother Salmanul Faris, 21, and Ishath, 16 – are currently under treatment at a private hospital for burn injuries.
The tragedy unfolded between 5pm and 5.30pm at Kuranganchola viewpoint, a popular local haunt where youth from Vellila gather to watch the sunset.
According to the residents, the weather changed quickly on Tuesday evening, with cloudy skies giving way to heavy downpour, followed by massive lightning.
P Jamsheer, a neighbour of the students who was among the first responders, said: “The transition in weather was terrifyingly swift. It started raining heavily, followed by intense thunder and lightning. The seven friends were sitting on top of a rock, from where one can see far into the distance, when lightning struck.”
“Passers-by spotted the boys lying unconscious and went to check on them. That was when one of the boys told them that they had been struck by lightning,” said Jamsheer. The residents mounted a desperate rescue effort, using private vehicles and ambulances to navigate the rugged terrain and rush the youngsters to the hospital. Two of them, they said, died on the spot.
The residents had initially believed that there were only six students in the group. However, upon reaching the hospital, the injured students made the distressing revelation – one of their friends, Salmanul Faris, was missing. A frantic search ensued. The youth, thrown by the impact of lightning, was found lying in a ditch under a rock crevice near the viewpoint. He, too, was rushed to the hospital.
Hospital authorities indicated that the injured were showing signs of stabilisation.