Three killed due to lightning strike

Kathmandu: Three people have died and two others have sustained injuries after they were struck by lightning in separate incidents in Kaski and Gorkha districts. The incidents occurred on Sunday.

Two workers were killed when lightning struck them while at work in the course of construction of the Triveni Lake trekking route at Pode of Annapurna Rural Municipality-11 in Kaski district.

The deceased have been identified as Bharat Pubir Rai, 44, of Silichong rural municipality-2 and Mahesh Rai, 18, of the same area, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police Basanta Kumar Sharma, information officer at the District Police Office, Kaski.

He said the remaining seven of the nine people engaged in widening, laying stairs and constructing railings of the trekking route located at an altitude of 3,800 meters above sea level, are safe.

Similarly, 42-year-old Raju Khanal of Bakrang, Sahid Lakhan Rural Municipality-1 died after being struck by lightning, said Police Inspector Dhruba Prasad Sharma, the Information Officer at the District Police Office, Gorkha.

Khanal was seriously injured when lightning struck him while he was sitting at home at around 7.50 pm on Sunday. Khanal was brought to the Province Hospital, Gorkha for treatment, but doctors declared him brought dead, police inspector Sharma said.

Similarly, Sukamaya Ale, 50, and Bipana Ale, 18, were injured in lightning strike at Chiangli of Palungtar Municipality-7 on Sunday evening. Both the injured are undergoing treatment at Old Medical College in Chitwan.