13 dead as lightning strikes Bangladesh mosque
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photosDHAKA (AFP) - At least 13 people were killed and 15 injured when lightning struck a makeshift mosque in a remote village in Bangladesh as locals were holding special Ramadan prayers, police said on Saturday.
The Imam was among those killed when the powerful lightning bolt hit the flimsy tin and thatch building at Saraswatipur village in the north-east some 200km from the capital Dhaka late on Friday.
About 35 people from the village, which is in the lake district of Sunamganj, were holding prayers known as taraweeh, offered during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when the lightning struck, police chief Bayes Alam said.
"All 13, including the Imam, died on the spot. The bodies and faces of some of the victims were burnt," Mr Alam told AFP, adding that at least 15 people were injured, including six who were hospitalised.
