Lightning kills elderly villager in Garo Hills

TURA: An elderly villager who was taking shelter in his plantation during a thunderstorm was struck by lightning leading to his death on Monday afternoon at Ampanggre village near Rongram, 21 kms from Tura.
55-year-old Witjen B Marak had taken his herd of cattle for grazing to his plantation but a heavy thunderstorm at noon forced him to seek shelter inside a shed that housed his water pump inside the plantation. He was reportedly killed when lightning hit a betel nut tree
next to the pump.
When he failed to turn up home with the herd in the evening his wife and son went in search only to find him dead with extreme body burns. The tree was also destroyed in the strike and had split in two.