Lightning strike kills three, injures two in Russia's Chelyabinsk Oblast

[News_Editor]

Lightning strike kills three, injures two in Russia's Chelyabinsk Oblast

2011-07-20 09:09:05 GMT+7 (ICT)

KORKINO, RUSSIA (BNO NEWS) -- Three people were killed on Tuesday when a group of people hiding under an umbrella were struck by lightning in Russia's Chelyabinsk Oblast, local media reported on Wednesday.

The accident happened in the town of Korkino as a thunderstorm moved over the region, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. It said a group of five people was using an umbrella for shelter after they had taken a swim in a nearby pond.

The report said a lightning strike struck the top of the umbrella, instantly killing two men and a women. The two other people, a mother and her 13-year-old daughter, were taken to an area hospital with critical injuries.

Earlier this month, on July 10, at least seven people were killed and others were injured when a lightning strike caused rocks to slide down a hill in northern Pakistan. And late last month, 18 children were killed and 36 others were injured when lightning struck a primary school in the Kiryadongo district of Uganda.

According to a 2008 study by researchers Holle and Lopez for Finnish company Vaisala, lightning strikes each year kill an estimated 24,000 people and injure more than 240,000 others.

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