At least 12 people lost their lives and two others got injured in lightning strikes at various places across West Bengal’s Malda district ahead of the onset of Monsoon on Thursday. Maldah and Murshidabad witnessed the seasonal storm of West Bengal called Kal Baishakhi in the afternoon today.
SP Malda Pradip Kumar Yadav has said, "12 persons lost their lives in the incident but the cause of the death will confirmed after post-mortem."
According to local sources, the deceased have been identified as Chandan Sahni (40), Raj Mridha (16), Manojit Mandal (21), Asit Saha (19) and Sumitra Mandal (46), Pankaj Mandal (23), Nayan Roy (23), Priyanka Singh (20), Rana Sheikh (8), Atul Mandal (65) and Sabarul Sheikh (11).
Administration announces compensation
Meanwhile, the district administration has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the families of the deceased. "So far, 11 people have been killed due to lightning strikes. A number of injured people are being treated at various hospitals. Some of the injured are in critical condition," the government official said.
Among deceased was Rana Sheikh, a resident of Mohammed Tola in Manikchak police station area. Three others namely, Chandan Sahani, Raj Mriddha and Manajit Mandal hailed from Sahapur under the jurisdiction of Malda police station.
Additionally, a couple Nayan Roy and Priyanka Singha died in Harishchandrapur while they were working in the farm fields. Two other deceased were from Adina under Gajol police station and Balupur under Ratua police station. Pankaj Mandal was the resident of English Bazar.
Weather change and casualities in Mumbai
In an earlier incident in Mumbai on May 13, gusty winds and thunderstorm wrecked havoc in Mumbai's Ghatkopar East area where a hoarding collapsed. The illegal hoarding stood on a piece of land in possession of the Government Railway Police (GRP) crashed on a petrol pump in Chheda Nagar area on Monday evening. The targic incident that took place due to the sudden change in climate led to 16 fatalities while over 75 were injured.
(With PTI Inputs / Reported by Omkar)
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