The Maravi Post

BLANTYRE—Police in Malawi say over 20 people have died in separate incidents after being struck by bolts of lightning across the country over the past three months with the recent one reported in Karonga where two people died on the spot.

Karonga Police spokesperson Enock Livason said the two deceased Edward Maloto Nkhoma and Dorothy Mtawali had been coming from the fields when they met their fate.

The police said about seven deaths had been reported in the North while 10 deaths were reported in the Southern Region and three in the Central region.

Lavason said that this had prompted the police to go on a civic education campaign to tell the masses on how to react when it is raining.

“We’re advising people not to walk whenever it is raining and not to hide under trees when it is raining,” he said.

The issue of lighting is controversial is Malawi where belief in witchcraft is strong. Some people believe that they have the power to cause lightning.

Chief Chikowa of Gawani Village in Mulanje where there are many cases of lightnings said they were suspecting that someone was responsible.

He said he couldn’t believe the number of people killed by lightning in “our villages and I know some people have been warned not to play with fire.”

Chikowa said there was need for the government to investigate the deaths.
 
In Blantyre, seven people in houses close to each other  were killed by lightning in November. Police said the victims - among them four children - were burned beyond recognition.

Also in Blantyre, another four people were killed and 20 injured when lightning struck a family gathering on New Year's Day. Four more died in Thyolo on the same day.

Chikowa said the deaths from lightning were a "growing phenomenon" in rural areas. "There is need for an investigation with a view of trying to identify the causes of the recent upsurge of fatal lightning incidents in the country," he said.

"We will talk to the department of science and technology on what is the cause of the lightning."

Jonas Phiri, a forecaster at the weather service, however said it was too early to judge whether there had been a rise in lightning strikes or fatalities.

"Sometimes people judge it on the amount of damage caused, not the actual statistics," he said. "As a scientist, I cannot draw conclusions just based on reports. Lightning can kill more than five people at a time. As soon as thunder develops, we get lightning, and anything can happen."

Phiri said the greatest concentration of lightning flashes in the world occurs in the tropics, with the highest values recorded over the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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©2012 The Maravi Post. Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgment