Lightning kills three students in Anambra

Lightning on Saturday killed three Senior Secondary School (SS3) students in Awka South local government area of Anambra State.

An eyewitness told journalists on Sunday that the lightning struck nine students playing football with their peers on the school’s pitch.

He said: “The students were practicing on the football pitch with their coach preparatory to a football tournament.

“The coach had ended the training session before the rain started, but some of the students stayed behind to continue playing football.

“Lightning, accompanied by claps of thunderstorm suddenly enveloped the area and the boys were struck in the process.

“A teacher heard the students screaming and running. He ran to the field and saw at least nine students trembling and jerking on the turf.

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“That was when he raised the alarm and people gathered to help. The boys were immediately rushed to the school clinic, from where they were taken to a hospital in Awka.

“Six of the nine boys were resuscitated and are currently receiving treatment, but three did not survive. Their parents have been contacted.”

A doctor at the hospital said three out of the nine boys were brought into the hospital dead, but six others were revived.

“As of now, the parents of two of the dead boys have taken the corpses away, while one is still in the mortuary.

“It is sad that they were playing on the field barefooted. If they had boots on, the impact of the lightning would probably have been minimised,’’ he stated.

However, the spokesman for the state police command, Tochukwu Ikenga, said the incident had not been reported to the command.

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