56 die in lightning strike in four days in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: With the death of four more persons, the toll in such strikes in Odisha reached to 56 within a span of four days, officials said. One person died due to lightning strike each in the districts of Bolangir, Jagatsinghour, Khurda and Cuttack, officials in the special relief commissioner’s office said.

While a youth of Deuliapatna village in Khurda district was killed when lightning struck him this afternoon, a person of Uttarabanki Gholapur village in Athagarh block of Cuttack district died after taking shelter under a tree during rain and thundershower. Besides, a youth of Balia Gopinathpur village in Jagatsinghpur district and an old man of Roda village of in Bolangir district were killed in lightning strike.

While 41 people had died due to lightning strike in various places on July 30, as many as 11 deaths were reported on July 31, officials said. While the maximum number of eight deaths were reported from Balasore district, there were seven casualties each in Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj and Khurda district, six in Cuttack, four each in Jajpur and Dhenkanal, three in Nayagarh, two each in Keonjhar and Nabarangpur, and one each in Puri, Deogarh, Kendrapara, Jharsuguda, Bolangir and Jagatsinghpur districts. An amount of Rs four lakh per deceased will be paid by the Government towards ex-gratia, the SRC said in a statement.

PTI