Seven killed in storm in Jharkhand, trees, electricity poles uprooted

DHANBAD/CHATRA: Seven people were killed in a storm that raged across Jharkhand early this morning uprooting electricity poles and hundreds of trees.

Police said a man, his two daughters and a son were crushed to death when the tree under which they were sleeping fell on them at Kona village in Chatra district. In the second incident, three members of a family were killed at Baghtand in Dhanbad district in lightning, Dhanbad police said.

The storm hit around 4.30 AM and according to reports a large number of electricity poles and hundreds of trees were uprooted in the storm in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Hazaribagh, Latehar and some other districts. Damage to property is being assessed, official sources said.