Lightning has struck dead three Senior Secondary School (SS3) students in Anambra State.
An eyewitness said the lightning struck nine male students who were playing football barefooted with their peers on the unnamed school’s pitch in Awka South Local Government Area, on Saturday, November 4, 2023.
“The students were practicing on the football pitch with their coach preparatory to a football tournament,” the witness said.
“The coach had ended the training session before rain started, but some of the students stayed behind to continue playing football.
“Lightning, accompanied by claps of thunderstorm suddenly enveloped the area and the boys were struck in the process.
“A teacher heard the students screaming and running. He ran to the field and saw at least nine students trembling and jerking on the turf.
“That was when he raised the alarm and people gathered to help. The boys were immediately rushed to the school clinic, from where they were taken to hospital in Awka.
“Six of the nine boys were resuscitated and are currently receiving treatment, but three did not survive. Their parents have been contacted,’’ the witness told NAN.
A resident, Mrs. Hope Egwu, said the news of the accident went round on Sunday.
At the hospital in Awka, parents and sympathisers trooped into the ward where the survivors were receiving treatment.
A doctor, who requested anonymity, told NAN that three out of the nine boys were brought into the hospital dead, but six others were revived.
“As of now, parents of two of the dead boys have taken the corpses away, while one is still in the mortuary. It is sad that they were playing on the field barefooted. If they had boots on, the impact of the lightning would probably have been minimised,’’ he said.