Lightning kills 3 in Dowa District

Lightning has killed three people in Dowa District, police have confirmed.

In an interview on Tuesday, Dowa Police Station spokesperson Gladson M’bumpha identified the deceased as Bridget Richard, 15, Mericy Benard,16, both of Dzuwa Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Chiwere and Greysom Dalileni, 21, of Mkuwani Village, T/A Mkukula.

He said the two girls met their fate while seeking shelter from rain under a tree.

Said M’bumpha: “On Monday afternoon, the deceased accompanied by their 14-year-old relative, Derbe Robert,went to Chikuse Village to draw water from a borehole when heavy rains started.

“The children decided to seek shelter under a tree and this is where lightning struck them, leaving them unconscious.”

He said after few minutes, Robert regained consciousness and realised that her two friends were still unconscious and called for help.

“The two unconscious children were taken to Grace Alliance Private Health Centre where they were pronounced dead on arrival. A postmortem conducted at the health facility showed deaths was due to electric shock caused by lightning,” said M’bumpha.

On the other hand, he said Dalileni was struck by lightning when he was planting maize in a garden.

Said M’bumpha: “Dalileni and his friend Alex Christopher were at the garden planting maize when rain started and lightning hit them, leaving them both unconscious.

“Later, Christopher woke up while Dalileni remained lying down. Christopher informed the village head who mobilised people to take Dalileni to Chezi Mission Hospital where death was confirmed as due to electric shock, secondary to lightning.”

Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) announced that natural disasters this year have killed 21 and out of this figure, 15 were killed by lightning while six died after walls fell on them.

Dodma said the disasters have injured at least 56 people and affected hundreds others.