Lightning kills 2, injures 3 in Chhattisgarh

Korba, Sep 20: Two men were killed and three other people injured after lightning struck them in Chhattisgarh's Surajpur district, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on Monday evening in Khajuri village under Pratappur police station limits, they said.

The deceased, identified as Nandlal Paikra (27) and Sanjay Yadav (25), natives of nearby Toni village, were returning home from Pratappur market when heavy rainfall started, a police official said.

The duo took shelter at a shop below a tree where some other people were also standing. Suddenly lightning struck there. Paikra and Yadav died on the spot, he said.

Three others including the shop owner suffered injuries and they were shifted to a local hospital for treatment, he said.

There have been a number of incidents of lightning strike in the state's Surguja division comprising seven districts, including Surajpur, in the recent past.