Sixteen persons died when thunderbolt struck at different places in the state on Sunday. Nine persons died in Guntur district alone. Lightning claimed four lives in Prakasam, two in Khammam and one in Kadapa district.
Pocham Varalakshmi, 42, and her daughter Adilakshmi, 28, died on the spot at Suddapalli village in Guntur’s Chebrole mandal when lightning struck them in the afternoon. Both were working in the field when the thunderbolt struck. Three injured were rushed to the government hospital in Guntur. A shepherd at Telukutla village in Gurazala mandal and Mahalakshmamma, 54, at Upparapalem village of Yadlapadu also died due to lighting strike. Sixty-year-old Saripudi Rajyalakshmi died at Lingapuram village in Amaravathi mandal. Three others received burn injuries. Farm worker Addanki Parvathi, 24, died at Pasumarru village of Chilakaluripet mandal, while another died of shock. Yathagiri Venkateswarlu, 38, and Palakala Srinivasa Rao, 45, died in a similar incident at Abbineniguntapalem village in Pedanandipadu mandal.
In Prakasam district, a worker at a cotton ginning mill Heeralal Sahani was struck by lightning when he went out to cover cotton bales with plastic sheets when it started raining. Sahani, 20, died on the spot. Farmer Paladugu Narasimha Rao, 42 of Ravulakollu village in Ponnalur mandal, died while working in the field, while labourer Vaka Puvvadamma, 45, died at Jammalamadaka village in Mundlamur mandal. Farm labourer Bhavanam Pullareddy, 60, died in Kollamvaripalem village in J Pangulur mandal.
In Khammam district, two persons died when thunderbolt stuck them in Tekulapalli and Wyra mandals, while one worker died in Kadapa district while taking shelter under a tree.