Lightning bolt kills woman in Cotabato

COTABATO CITY — A 25-year-old woman in Libungan town in Cotabato province died instantly after getting struck by lightning at dusk Saturday.

In separate reports Monday, the Libungan Municipal Police Station and the office of the municipal mayor identified the fatality as Jessabel Namol, a resident of Barangay Kapayawi, an interior area in the municipality.

Barangay officials said it was drizzling at the time when Namol went out of their house to fetch water from an outdoor tap at one spot in their yard when she was hit by a powerful lightning bolt, causing her immediate death.

The local government unit of Libungan assured to provide Namol’s family with financial assistance needed for her burial.