Six lightning victims in Pabna's Malanchi buried side by side after joint funeral prayer
The funeral prayer and burial of six children, teenagers and young men killed by lightning in Malanchi Union of Pabna Sadar upazila have been completed. Their joint janaza was held at 10am on Saturday (31 October) at the Mahadevpur graveyard ground in the union. Afterwards, the six were buried in a row in the same graveyard.
They died on Friday afternoon (30 October) when lightning struck while they were fishing at Sonapati bil in Malanchi Union.
The deceased are Shaon (24), son of Rabiul Islam of the Gajmatikunda area of Malanchi Union; Robbel Molla (20), son of Ismail Molla of the Nalmura area; Mizanur Rahman (10), son of Shahjahan Pramanik; Sajid (14), son of Nazim Uddin; Abdullah (18), son of Shahadul; and Emon (14), son of Ibadul.
According to local residents and police sources, several people from different areas went to the bil to fish on Friday afternoon. Caught in the rain in the afternoon, nine of them took shelter in a hut at the bil. When lightning struck, six died on the spot. Three others were seriously injured.
After the incident, the injured lay in the hut for quite some time. In the evening, people nearby learnt of the matter and rescued them. The three injured were admitted to hospital.
Pabna Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Tamara Tasbiha said the funeral prayer and burial of the deceased have been completed.
Under the government's declared financial assistance policy for people killed and injured by lightning, the families of the deceased have been given 50,000 taka each and the families of the injured 25,000 taka each.
On Friday night (30 October), Deputy Commissioner Aminul Islam was present as the grant money from the allocation of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief was handed over to the families.
