Lightning Strikes Children Playing Football, Killed Ten, Injured Four

Lightning Strikes Children Playing Football, Killed Ten, Injured  Four 

No fewer than 10 children were reported dead while four others were seriously injured on Friday after lightning hit them while sheltering from a storm during a football match in northern Uganda.

According to police spokeswoman Josephine Angucia, on Thursday before the incident occurred, the boys, aged 11 to 16, had sheltered from a storm in an improvised structure in the Arua region, northwest of the capital Kampala.

Angucia said when it started to storm, young boys had been playing football and lightning hit them.

Four other kids were also critically injured on the incident, she said.

"The children, when the lightning struck Thursday evening, were sheltering from the rain in a grass-thatched hut.

"In a nearby field, they 'd played soccer." Four other children were injured.

"Relatives have been picking up mortuary bodies since yesterday, and the burials take place from today," she said.

She further explained that deadly lightning is commonly reported in the East African country during the wet seasons while urging children to avoid playing in the rain.

“The football pitches are usually within or near schools.

“It’s advisable for schools to fix lightning arrestors so that we offer protection to our children,” she added