At least two budding football players died, and 10 others were injured after they were struck by lightning in Jharkhand's Latehar district on Thursday, police said.

The incident happened at Itke village under the jurisdiction of Bariatu police station area in the afternoon when they were playing football, the Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Balumath, Ashutosh Kumar Satyam, said.

The deceased were identified as Deepak Kumar (24) and Virendra Ganjhu (25), he said.

The injured have been admitted to a community health centre.

The bodies of the deceased were sent to a hospital for post-mortem examination, the police officer said.

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