3 minors killed by lightning bolt

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Three minors died instantly after a powerful lightning bolt struck them while harvesting bananas amid inclement weather in Barangay Damit in Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur on Thursday, October 17.

Officials of the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Police Office and the Bureau of Fire Protection-9 had confirmed the demise of the three adolescent high school students in the incident.

All three of them were declared dead on arrival by doctors at a hospital where personnel of the BFP at the Bayog Fire Station who responded to the incident brought them for treatment.

Two companions of the three fatalities sustained burns and wounds in different parts of their bodies, according to the local police and municipal officials in Bayog.

Barangay leaders and employees of the Bayog Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office were quoted in radio reports on Saturday as saying that it was dark and drizzling in Purok 6 in Barangay Damit when the five minors were hit by a strong lightning while harvesting bananas in a farm in the area.

Relatives and classmates of the victims had told reporters they were to sell the bananas they were supposed to harvest for them to have extra money they would need for an athletic intramurals in their school.