Four killed in lightning strikes in Khagrachhari

Two more are injured during incidents in three Upazilas in the district

Four people, including a child, have died and two others have been injured by lightning strikes in three Upazilas of Khagracchari district.

The incidents occurred in the Dighinala, Matiranga, and Ramgar Upazilas, police said.

The dead were identified as Hasina Begum, 30, and her son Hanif Mia, 8, from Dighinala Upazila; Ganaj Marma, 55, from Ramgarh Upazila; and Samika Tripura, 26, from Matiranga Upazila.

“There was lightning during a thunderstorm around 5:30am,” said Mahmuda Begum Lucky, chairman of Dighinala’s Merung Union.

“Lightning struck Sadek Mia’s home and started a fire. Hasina Begum and her son Hanif Mia were inside the house and were burnt by the flames.”

“Another of Hasina’s children – 11-year-old Md Habiz – survived because he was outside. The Dighinala Fire Service came to the home, extinguished the fire, and recovered the bodies.”

Sadek Ali works as a driver.

Local resident Md Jahid said, “I heard the sudden sound of a lightning strike around dawn. Then I heard crying. I went to see and found their house was on fire. Fire Service personnel came and contained the fire.”

The lightning set the house on fire, said Station Master Pankaj Barua of the Dighina Fire Service.

When the incident was reported, firefighters rushed to the scene, put out the fire, and recovered the bodies of the mother and child.

The bodies will be handed over to the families once official formalities are complete, said Nurul Haque, chief of Dighinala Police Station.

A lightning strike in the Hajapara area of Ramgarh led to the death of a man named Ganaj Marma, said Debashish Das, chief of Ramgarh Police Station.

Chailafru Marma, the chief of the neighbourhood, said: “He was taking the cattle out of the rain and into the shed in the early morning when he was killed by lightning.”

A woman was killed in a lightning strike in Shahi Kabari Para in Matiranga’s Belchari Union, said Krishna Kamal Dey, chief of Matiranga Police Station.

“Samika Tripura was critically injured by lightning as she was sleeping in her room early in the morning,” he said. “She was taken to Matiranga Health Complex, where she died while receiving treatment.”

Her two sons were injured in the incident, the police officer added.