Lightning on Sunday late night, July 11, 2021 took over 18 lives including seven children in Jaipur and other parts of Rajasthan. According to officials, more than 20 people were also injured in separate incidents of lightning strikes in Kota, Baran, Jhalawar and Dholpur districts.
In a major tragedy in Jaipur, 11 persons, mostly youths, were killed and eight others injured when lightning struck them on a hill near the Amber Fort, officials said. Some of them were taking selfies on a watch tower while the others were on the hill. Those on the watch tower fell when lightning struck late in the evening, they said. Four children, who worked as shepherds at a village under Kanwas police station area of Kota, and a youth in Sunel area of Jhalawar district were killed due to lightning. In Dholpur’s Bari area, three children were killed after lightning stuck. Teams from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local police immediately swung into action and rushed the injured to the hospital. Police said that a rescue operation is on to look for other injured people. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot expressed grief over the loss of lives and announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin. “The loss of lives due to lightning strikes in Kota, Dholpur, Jhalawar, Jaipur and Baran today is very sad and unfortunate,” Mr Gehlot tweeted.
