Lightning bolt kills five children in Cameroon

YAOUNDE, May 23 (Reuters) Five children were killed by a lightning bolt while gathering firewood in a forest in northeastern Cameroon, state radio reported today.

The children, between 10 and 12 years old, went to forage for fuel in the outskirts of Ngaoundere, the capital of Adamawa province, during a storm on Sunday, the radio said.

''It wasn't until the next day in the morning that a shepherd came and reported that he saw them all dead under a mango tree,'' state radio reported.

Doctors who accompanied police to the site confirmed that the five children had been killed by a lightning bolt. The month of May typically sees heavy rains in the Adamawa Plateau region of the Central African country.

REUTERS DS BST1745