Two persons were killed and two others injured when lightning struck them during a heavy thunder shower at two places at Karimpur in Nadia on Thursday afternoon.

The victims were farmers who were working in the field when lightning struck.

Minarul Sheikh, 25, of Goas was killed while he was busy working in a paddy field near his residence. He was immediately taken to Karimpur rural hospital, where the attending doctor pronounced him brought-dead.

In the other incident, Dushashan Adhikari, 48, of Nandanpur area of Karimpur, was killed.

Sources said during a heavy rain, lightning struck the area and at least three farmers fell unconscious. They were rushed to Karimpur rural hospital where Dushashan was declared brought-dead.

Abbas Malitha, 26, a farmer, who was injured in the incident, said: “We were working in the field amid a thundershower. When lightning struck, we fell unconscious for a while. When I regained consciousness, I found myself on a hospital bed and learnt that one of us had been killed.”

Science and nature care activist Bibartan Bhattacharyya has blamed farmers for their negligent approach in taking preventive steps to avoid such untimely loss of lives.

“It is quite unfortunate that every year, we lose around 2,500 human lives and livestock to lightning. In most of incidents, farmers are common victims. Government officials and science activists have been tirelessly trying to convince them not to work in the field during thunderstorms.”

“The change in climatic conditions and heating of the earth surface at local level and accumulation of moisture have led to a sudden surge in lightning strikes.”

“So, we have to be very careful to avoid becoming a victim of this natural phenomenon,” Bhattacharyya, who runs a science club in Nadia, said.