Lightning kills eight in Tamil Nadu village

VILLUPURAM/TAMIL NADU: Eight persons were killed and six injured when lightning struck them near here on Tuesday night.

Police, who had initially put the toll at nine, later said eight persons were killed in the mishap.

The victims, all men, belonging to Mundiyampakkam village, about 10 km from this district-headquarters town.

They were on their way to a temple of Godess Mariyamman near a cremation ground for a routine pooja performed on 'amavasya' days when sudden rain accompanied by thunder and lightning lashed the area.

They took shelter in a thatched shed near the cremation ground when a lightning hit the shed, killing eight of them and leaving six injured, police said.

The bodies of the eight persons had been brought to the general hospital here, they said.

The injured had been rushed to the JIPMER hospital in neighbouring Puducherry.

The Villupuram town, 160 km from Chennai, and its surroundings experienced the heavy unseasonal rain for nearly an hour from 10.30 pm.