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Three students lost their lives in Awka South LGA, Anambra, when a lightning bolt struck a group of nine senior secondary school (SS3) students on Saturday.
NAN reported that, as per a witness’s account, nine male students, playing barefooted football with their peers on the school’s pitch, were struck by lightning.
‘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.’
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‘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.’
According to Hope Egwu, a local resident, the news of the accident spread on Sunday, leaving the entire community in a state of sadness.
At the Awka hospital, parents and sympathizers came together in the ward where the survivors were being treated.
The Eastern Updates learned that three of the nine boys were brought to the hospital and pronounced dead, but the medical team managed to revive the other six.
‘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.’
‘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.’
Tochukwu Ikenga, the police spokesman in Anambra, stated that the incident had not been reported to the law enforcement agency when contacted.
Chukwudi Okani, a professor and consultant pathologist at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital in Awka, clarified that the incident was a result of natural factors, not of a spiritual nature.
Okani highlighted that lightning’s lethality is due to the risk of electrocution, be it from a direct strike, side splash, or ground current strike.
He suggested that people should consider the installation of lightning rods on their structures to redirect electrical currents in case of lightning.
Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate for the Labour Party (LP), joined social media in mourning the students affected by the incident.
‘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.’
