BERHAMPORE/HOOGHLY/MIDANPORE: At least 27 people were killed across South Bengal districts in lightning strikes on Monday afternoon with Hooghly alone accounting for 11 deaths and Murshidabad nine.
Two each were killed in West Midnapore, East Midnapore and Bankura and one in Nadia.
Three of the deceased were women.
The lethal lightning strikes were triggered by a combination of factors: a ‘surface trough’ between east Uttar Pradesh and northeast Bay of Bengal and a squall line stretching across Burdwan, Nadia, Murshidabad and Midnpaore led to storms across South Bengal even as clouds floating in from Bangladesh further strengthened the system.
“As a result, we had a thick column of cloud, fed by moisture from the region, that sailed southward lashing all the districts that came in its path.
The cloud reached a height of 12 km and triggered frequent lightning strikes that turned out to be fatal,” said a Met official.
The state government announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased and asked the district administrations to reach out to the affected families by Monday night.
Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress national general secretary, will visit the homes of the victims in four districts soon.
PM Narendra Modi, too, sent his condolences to the victims’ families and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to each of the bereaved families from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
“My thoughts are with all those who lost their near and dear ones due to lightning in parts of West Bengal.
May the injured recover at the earliest,” PM Modi tweeted.
The injured will receive Rs 50,000 from the PM’s fund.
My thoughts are with all those who lost their near and dear ones due to lightning in parts of West Bengal.
May the… https://t.co/hzb97u7tOD— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 1623077671000Home minister Amit Shah tweeted: “The loss of lives due to lightning in different parts of West Bengal is deeply saddening.” The loss of lives due to lightning in different parts of West Bengal is deeply saddening.
My sincerest condolences… https://t.co/9gzjxg3wXo— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) 1623079581000In Murshidabad, all the nine killed were working in fields.
District officials said six victims — Jalaluddin Seikh (32), Saddam Seikh (30), Sunil Das (28), Duryodhan Das (35), Majaharul Seikh (16) and Sahinul Seikh (25) — were from Mirjapur in Noada.
Another eight were injured.
All14 had taken shelter under a shed during the heavy rain when the lightning struck.
They were taken to Jangipur superspeciality hospital, where six were declared dead.
Goutam Ghosh of Trinamool in Murshidabad, said, “The state is with them and they will receive a compensation soon.” In Behrampore, Abhijit Biswas (42) and Prahlad Murari (40) died in lightning strike inside an under-construction house at Hathat Colony Four died at Khanakul, Hooghly.
Hemanta Guchhait (42) and his wife Malabika died on the field at Balipur.
At Gobindapur, Kanai Lahiri died, while his wife Malati was injured.
In Jaganathpur, Sisir Adhikary (68) died and his wife Jyotshna was injured.
At Singur’s Nasibpur, Susmita Koley (32), a homemaker, died.
Farmers Sanjib Samanta (48) and Saila Malik (40) died in Tarakeswar while Dilip Ghosh (50) died in Haripal.
Two more were killed in West Midnapore — Archana Roy (35) and Arun Mondal (40).