Thunder kills 3 Anambra students playing football, injures 6 others 

Thunder kills 3 Anambra students playing football, injures 6 others 

Tragedy struck on Saturday at a school in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State when a lightning struck, killing three students. 

 

NAN quoted a witness to have said that the lightning struck nine male students who were playing football with their peers on the school’s pitch barefooted.

“The students were practicing on the football pitch with their coach preparatory to a football tournament,” the source 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.”

Hope Egwu, a resident told NAN that news of the accident went around on Sunday, adding that everyone had been held spellbound.

At the hospital in Awka, parents and sympathisers trooped into the ward where the survivors were receiving treatment.

A doctor 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,” the medical practitioner was quoted to have said.

“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.”

Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has expressed shock at the news of the tragedy via his social media handle.

“I am greatly saddened by the unfortunate natural disaster that happened at Tansi International College, Awka this weekend,” he wrote on X.

“It was reported that 9 students of the College were struck by thunder, on Saturday, November 4, during a rainstorm.

“I am greatly saddened by the unfortunate natural disaster that happened at Tansi International College, Awka this weekend. It was reported that 9 students of the College were struck by thunder, on Saturday, November 4, during a rainstorm.”

Loud clap of thunder and bright flash from  lightning can rupture eardrums or temporarily blind a person. Even worse, a lightning strike can cause a cardiac arrest, which stops the body from circulating blood and injures the brain and nervous system.