Three struck by lightning while building a fence

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Lightning

LightningThree men have been killed by lightning as they were working on the foundations of a brick fence on a plot belonging to one of the residents of Lilongwe’s low density Area 43.

The incident happened on Friday and another man who was with the three got injured but was treated as an outpatient at Kamuzu Central Hospital.

Lilongwe Police identified the three as Wedson Nkhunumbu,37, of Magombo Village, T/A Champiti, Ntcheu; Douglas Kachuma, 38, of Kaunde Village, T/A Mlumbe in Zomba; and 22-year-old, Isaac Ngolombe, from Donda Village, T/A Chimoka in Lilongwe.

The police further identified the survivor as Enusu Pinto, 23 from Kanyenda Village, T/A Maganga in Salima.

Lilongwe Police spokesperson, Kingsley Dandaula, said rain started while the men were working and before they could find shelter lightning struck them, killing Nkhunumbu, Kachuma, and Ngolombe on spot while Pinto was left unconscious.

Results of a post-mortem revealed that the three had died of cardiac arrest, apparently caused by the lightning, according to Dandaula.

The death of the three brings the number of people killed by lighting close to 20 just in the 2015/2016 rainy season alone.

Among others, lightning killed three people at a funeral ceremony in Phalombe in November 2015; four siblings in Kasungu in December 2015, two men in Dowa and two others in Dedza in November 2015.