TEAM HERALD
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CALANGUTE: Two members of a family were injured after lightning struck a house at Mainath Bhatti, Arpora, on Tuesday night.
According to reports, property worth about Rs 3.25 lakh was destroyed in the incident that took place at about 9 pm.
Two of the family members, Laxmi Morajkar and her son Vasant, sustained minor injuries and were later treated at a nearby hospital. Vasant was struck in the back by broken glass pieces as lightning flashed past him while he was attending to water leaking inside the house. Laxmi, who was sitting, was hit on the ear by a glass piece.
“I was sitting and my son was attending to the water leaking from the roof when all of a sudden, a loud noise was heard and there was no sound of my son. In the darkness I somehow managed to get hold of my son and dragged him outside. I thank God for saving our lives,” Laxmi told Herald.
The lightning struck a nearby coconut tree and entered Morajkar’s house through the window breaking the glass and moved past a bed where the children usually sleep. Fortunately, the children were away at their uncle’s house for holidays.
The lightning then hit the wall and rebounded to the sitting room where the Morajkars were and damaged the television set. The lightning then entered the adjoining room where another family member, Chandra was asleep and destroyed the television set there also. The entire electrical wiring of both the joint houses was destroyed.
The Morajkar family lost two television sets, a refrigerator, electrical appliances, furniture and the walls of the house, causing damages of about Rs 2.25 lakh. The Chandra family lost a television set, electrical wiring and other household items, causing damages of about Rs 1 lakh.
The impact of the lightning was such that neighbhours, including Arpora-Nagoa Deputy Sarpanch Joseph Fernandes lost their television sets, DVD sets and other electronic items.
Calangute MLA Michael Lobo rushed to the site and took stock of the situation along with Deputy Sarpanch Fernandes and Panch Agostinho D’Souza.
Arpora-Nagoa Sarpanch Sushmita Nagvekar, Panchas Cleophas Fernandes, Roshan Redkar and Sakharam Naik also visited the site. Talathi Dayanand Redkar visited the site and carried out the required formalities, while the Anjuna Police team did the on scene investigation.
Lobo has assured to provide financial assistance to both the families from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and the Zilla Panchayat, while Arpora-Nagoa Panchayat has assured immediate relief of Rs 5,000 each to the two families.
