A woman and a baby boy were killed during a severe electrical thunder storm in the Nqutu area yesterday, while a number of other people were injured.
During the storm, Paramedics from KZN Emergency Medical Services responded to several incidents in the Mphondi area near Nqutu. In the first case, which occurred at about 5pm, three people – a lady of about 28 years of age, a 12-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl – were seriously injured after a lighting strike.
In a separate case in the evening, a woman in her twenties and a baby boy had sustained fatal injuries after being struck by lighting, a man estimated to be 28 years old and his four year-old daughter had sustained injuries, while several people who were in the group were not injured. The paramedics transported the surviving patients to Nquthu hospital for continued care.
“In both cases, it is not known how close the lightning strikes were to the affected patients,” said Robert McKenzie, EMRS spokesman.