Lightning kills five in Tripura

AGARTALA - Five people, including two children, were killed and 11 injured in lightning strikes in different parts of Tripura, officials said Thursday.

Eight-year-old Rajiv Bhoumij and his six-year-old sister Sunimalal died on the spot and their parents suffered burns in the incident in west Tripura district’s Bishalgarh block Wednesday night. The family was sleeping when lightning struck, an official said.

Besides, a woman was killed in Teliamura in west Tripura and two youths died in Kanchanpur in north Tripura. Nine more people were injured in these incidents.

Lightning and thunder, accompanied by high velocity winds, have lashed Tripura over the past several days, damaging crops and uprooting electric poles and trees.

“Northeastern region, due to its topography, is a lightning-prone area. Lightning claims on an average 100 lives every year specially during March and April,” said Swapan Bhowmik, a physicist of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Agartala.