Seven persons, including three children, and nine cattle died after they were struck by lightning in three blocks of Malda on Wednesday afternoon.

At least 15 others were injured by lighting. They are under treatment at the Malda Medical College and Hospital and at a rural hospital at Kaliachak-II block.

Nitin Singhania, the district magistrate of Malda, said six-year-old Umme Kulsum of the Shershahi-Marupur area in Kaliachak-I block died of injuries from lightning.

Soumit Mandal, 10, of Gosainhat village, and Esa Sarkar, 8, of Bhagalpur in Kaliachak-II block who were severely injured, weredeclared dead at a hospital.

The fourth person who died of lightning is Nazrul Sheikh, 32, of Pathapara at Babla-Kamalpur village of the same block.

Krishna Chowdhury, 65, of Muchia in Old Malda block is the fifth victim. He was in a mango plantation when lightning struck. Debashree Mondal, 27, of Kaliachak-III and Robizon Bibi, 54, of Kaliachak-II block is the seventh victim. “The bereaved families will get compensation,” Singhania said.

Elephants dead

Two wild elephants died because of suspected lightning strike at a tea estate in Jalpaiguri on Tuesday night.

Sources said the elephants had entered the Bamandanga-Tondu tea estate in the Nagrakata block from the nearby forest. At night, residents of the tea garden heard the elephants screaming.

On Wednesday morning, as the workers found the elephants, a male and a female, lying dead in a vacant area of the garden.

SUV falls into Sikkim gorge

Siliguri: Eight persons were seriously injured and five others escaped with minor injuries when an SUV fell into a gorge in north Sikkim on Tuesday afternoon.

It was carrying 13 passengers from Siliguri to Chungthang in Sikkim.

Most of the passengers were the personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

OUR CORRESPONDENT