Odisha: 2 dead, 29 critical as lightning strikes during football match

Sundargah: In a rare, tragic and shocking incident, as many as two persons were killed and almost 29 were reportedly critically injured as a lightning boult struck in Sundargarh district of Odisha on Sunday.

According to reports, a football match was underway in the playground as the boult of lightning struck. The exact place of the occurrence of the incident was in Baneilata village under Nuagaon block here in Odisha

The identity of the group of youth is yet to be ascertained and some of the injured victims have been identified as minors, said releable reports. It is noteworthy that, most of the victims were of the age group between (14 to 15) years.

According to reports, the boys were playing a football match on the village playground when ot of the blue a lightning boult struck the playground. As a result, 2 boys died on the spot and 29 were critically injured, by the lightning strike.

Soon, the villagers rushed the injured boys to Rourkela Government hospital for treatment.

After getting news about the mishap, Biramitrapur Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Shankar Oram reached the hospital and enquired regarding the treatment of the victims.

It is to be noted that in a similar incident of a lightning mishap on October 4 2022, at least two young boys were killed due to lightning strike in Jajpur district of Odisha. The incident took place in Bhubanpur village in Madhupurgarh panchayat under Dharmasala block.