Eleven persons, including five minors and a newly married couple, died after they were struck by lightning in different blocks of Malda district on Thursday.

The district, which had been experiencing scorching heat for the past few weeks, on Thursday witnessed a downpour, along with a strong gale, which lowered the day temperature. During the rain, lightning struck different locations in the district and left 11 dead.

Sources in police and the administration said Atul Mandal, 65, Sabrul Sheikh, 11, and Rana Sheikh, 8, of Manikchak block, were hit by lightning while they were on a mango plantation to harvest the fruit.

In the Old Malda block, Chandan Sahani, 40, of Sahapur, Samar Mridha, 15, of ward 5 and Manojit Mandal, 17, of ward 17 of Old Malda municipality, met the same fate.

Asit Saha, 17, died when he was struck by lightning at Adina in the Gazole block.

Sumitra Mandal, 44, was killed by lightning while she was working on her agricultural field at Uttar Balupur in Ratua 1 block. Her son Jiban, 22, suffered injuries and is under treatment.

In Harishchandrapur 1 block, Nayan Roy, 24, and his wife Priyanka, 20, who had got married a few weeks back, were hit by lightning while they were on their jute field in the Kursadangi area of Tulshihata. Both of them died.

Sources said another youth had died after being struck by lightning at Milky of Englishbazar block. He is yet to be identified.

All the bodies were sent for post-mortem to different hospitals.

Nitin Singhania, the district magistrate of Malda, said although the model code of conduct was in force, there was no bar on the administration to hand over compensation to the bereaved families.

“For each victim, the next of kin will get ₹2 lakh as compensation. The families will also receive Rs 2,000 for cremation. The officer-in-charge of the disaster management cell and the block development officers concerned have been asked to stand by the affected families,” Singhania said.

Jalpaiguri death

Bishnu Nayak, 46, a resident of Gurjangjhora tea estate in Malbazar block of Jalpaiguri district, died on Thursday afternoon when he was struck by lightning.

Nayak, local people said, had taken his cattle to a field for grazing when a thunderstorm and rain occurred. At that time, he was hit by lightning. The villagers rushed him to the super-specialty hospital in Malbazar where doctors pronounced him dead.