Lightning kills eight in Nawada village

NAWADA: Seven children and an adult were killed when lightning struck a ‘peepal’ tree in a Nawada village around 2pm on Friday. The children were playing under the tree. Over a dozen persons also suffered burn injuries.
The incident occurred at Dhanpur village under the Kashichak police station area in Nawada district. Civil surgeon Srinath Prasad said the injured were admitted to Nawada Sadar hospital and nearby primary health centres.
All the deceased belonged to the Musahar community.The children were between 8 and 15 years of age. The deceased were identified as Chhotu Manjhi (8), Munnilal Manjhi (9), Pravesh Manjhi (10), Nitish Manjhi (12), Chhotu Manjhi (15), Ganesh Manjhi (15), Monu Manjhi (15) and Ramesh Manjhi (26). Among the severely injured persons are Ganesh Manjhi (21), Kundan Manjhi (7), Nandan Kumar (14), Rakesh Manjhi (12), Masuriya Manjhi (15), Nandu Manjhi (22), Ankit Manjhi (13), and Kali Manjhi (20).
CM Nitish Kumar announced ex gratia payment of Rs4 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased. He also ordered for appropriate treatment of the injured children.
Nawada civil SDO Annu Kumar said around 24 children of Musahar tola of Dhanpur were playing near the tree at the time of the incident.