At least six persons died and many others sustained serious injuries in lightning at various places in Baleswar, Khordha and Jajpur districts on Saturday afternoon.
At village Maharajpur under the Khantapara police station in Baleswar district, three boys died and three others were injured. The victims were village cricket players preparing the field for a day-and-night tournament later in the day. The deceased were identified as Ramesh Pradhan (20) and his cousin Paresh Pradhan (20).
Jyotiranjan Jena (48) of Nalipur village under Jajpur district’s Balichandpur police station, Muna Dalei (25) of Aurah under the Dharmasala PS and Chakradhar Rout (60) of Chitahata under the Jajpur Sadar police station died after being struck by lightning.
In Khordha district, one person belonging to Gadahaladia village also died in the lightning. Besides, a woman, Anam Gedi, died as a branch of a tree struck by stormy wind snapped over her in Alipur village under Jajpur district’s Bari block.
On Friday, in two separate incidents, two students were also killed in lightning strikes at Mirgahat Kula and Bhatta Sahi under Dhamnagar block in Bhadrak district.
Those killed in the lightning were Rajesh Behera and Subrat Sahu of Dihasahi village. While Rajesh was a student of an engineering college at Asurali, Subrat was studying at an Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in the same place. The mishap occurred while both were returning home by bicycles from their institutes.