Rourkela: A total of four women were killed and more than 20 others injured in suspected lightning strikes at two places in Sundargarh district on Tuesday.Champa Tirkey (51) and Susheela Tirkey (52) died on the spot and more than 20 were injured when lightning allegedly struck a group of farm workers in Balishankara block under Talsara police station.Sources said the workers, who had come from Chhattisgarh, were engaged in paddy transplantation at Bhatipada when rain and thunderstorms hit the area around 1.30pm. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital. Police from Talsara station reached the spot and are conducting an enquiry.In another incident, two women were killed after allegedly being struck by lightning under Bonai police limits in Sundargarh district on Tuesday afternoon. Sunita Oram (32) of Jamjor village and Draupati Kishan (33) of Indrapur village, both under Bonai police station, had gone to a field for agricultural work when lightning allegedly struck around 1.30 pm. They collapsed on the spot and were rushed to Bonai subdivisional hospital, where doctors declared them brought dead. Bonai police have registered an unnatural death case and initiated an investigation.
