Categories: Africa

Lightning Kills Six Children In Guinea

Guinea Map

 

Six children aged between four and 10 died after they were struck by lightning while making tea under a mango tree in north-eastern Guinea on Wednesday, a witness said.

The storm began shortly before 7:00 pm (1900 GMT) in the town of Siguiri, close to the border with Mali, witness Mamadi Doumbouya, a local resident, told AFP.

He said eight children in total, accompanied by two of their mothers, were under a mango tree at the back of his house.

“I invited everyone to take shelter in my living room. The ladies rushed under my roof but the children stayed behind to make the last cups of tea,” he added.

Lightning then struck the mango tree and when Doumbouya rushed out, all of the children were on the ground and unconscious, he said in a telephone call.

Six of the children — five girls and a four-year-old boy — died while being taken to hospital, he added.

A doctor from Siguiri Hospital said the six dead children were brought there in the early evening and two others were placed under observation for the coming days.

West Africa is currently undergoing its rainy season.

On Saturday a landslide hit a gold mine in the same area as Wednesday’s storm, killing four people including a two-year-old girl and her mother.

“The victims were working in a former gold mine where mining was banned because of the risk of landslides” in the heavy rains, “but people were hiding to go to the tunnels”, a Red Cross official said.

AFP

Ignatius Igwe

An energetic journalist with an amazing sense of responsibility.

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

CBN Pegs Minimum Capital Base For Banks At ₦500bn 

The apex bank said the new minimum capital base for commercial banks with national authorisation…

22 mins ago

Soldiers’ Killing Oil-Related, DSS Should Lead Probe — Urhobo Leader

The Urhobo leader called for an independent probe into the circumstances that led to the…

26 mins ago

Tyrants Won’t Become Leaders In Parliamentary Democracy — Utomi 

The thought leader noted that thriving democracies in the world practice parliamentary democracy.

1 hour ago

Tinubu Appoints Abdullahi Bello As CCB Chairman 

By the presidential pronouncement, Abdullahi Bello replaces Aliyu Kankia, who has been the acting Chairman…

2 hours ago

NAFDAC Cracks Down On Fake Bottled Water Syndicate In Rivers

The illicit scheme involved affixing pre-printed Eva labels onto the bottles and sealing them with…

4 hours ago

Military Declares Eight Wanted Over Murder Of Soldiers

The list was released hours after the slain soldiers were buried in a ceremony attended…

4 hours ago