7 killed, 23 injured in lightning in Odisha

At least seven persons were killed and around 23 others injured when lightning struck them in different parts of Odisha this evening, police said.
In Jagatsinghpur district three farmers were killed and four others seriously injured when lightning struck them at Nimakala village.
The farmers had taken shelter under a tree during rains when lightning struck them, the police said adding the injured were sent to hospital.
A report from Kendrapara district said a 68-year-old farmer was killed in lightning when he was ploughing his field in Gogua village.
A 15-year-old boy was injured in the same village, police said.

At least 15 girl students of Pattamundai government girls' high school lost consciousness as lightning struck at a nearby place. They were provided with medical treatment and are safe, said Kendrapara Superintendent of Police, Satish Kumar Gajabhiye.

In other incidents, three persons were injured in lightning at Ostia, Alava and Belatala villages in Kendrapara district, he added.
In Bhadrak district, a 14-year-old girl of Sathibakuda village was killed when lightning struck her when she was returning home from school, while a farmer was killed at Dikshitpada village in Cuttack district when he was working in his paddy field.
Another farmer was killed at Patilo village in Keonjhar district in a similar incident, the police said.