DEATHS BY LIGHTNING

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 6 March 1935, Page 12

DEATHS BY LIGHTNING

THREE KILLED IN FIJI SEVERE ELECTRICAL STORM HOUSE BURNED TO GROUND SUVA, Feb. 25. Three Indians were killed at Ba, a sugar cane district about 150 miles from Suva, when lightning struck an Indian house in the course of a storm last week. A number of Indians were sheltering from the storm in an Indian hut when it was struck by lightning. A young man and two boys were killed instantly and several others were shocked or stunned. The house caught fire, and within a few minutes was burned to the ground. Another man who was in the hut has been reported as missing, and has not yet been located. The storm is reported to have been one of exceptional severity. From two •o’clock in the afternoon until five o’clock there was a continuous succession of blinding flashes, followed by sharp cracks of thunder. Befoie the rolling of one thunderclap had finished there were more flashes with their accompanying thunder, so that frequently there were three or more | crashes of thunder sounding at once. I The storm was accompanied by a heavy downpour of rain. Within 50 minutes three and and three-quarter inches of rain were recorded. During the rainy season, .and at this time of year, electrical storms are frequent and there is a strong local belief that when they are frequent there is less likelihood of a hurricane. Last year there were several fatalities among Indians. Indian houses are not very substantially built, and more often than not are merely grass huts. It is also possible that the door of the house had been left open. In connection with last week’s fatalities it is interesting to recall that four years ago to the very day the same district was visited by a disastrous flood, in the course of which over two hundred lives were lost, the victims being mostly Indians who were unable to swim.