Two cousins minors died after being struck by lightning while searching for a telephone signal on a small hill in the municipality of Muelle de los Bueyes, in the Autonomous Region of the Southern Caribbean (RACS) of Nicaragua, the National Police reported on Friday.
The event occurred on a farm in the rural community of San Miguel, municipality of Muelle de los Bueyes, and was classified as an accidental death by the National Police.
The tragedy occurred on Thursday night when the two minors, 13 years old and 16 years old, respectively, left their homes towards a small hill to look for a signal. for their cell phones and were struck by lightning, according to the police report.
The minors left their homes towards a small hill to look for a signal for their cell phones.
Photo:iStock
According to the police report, the parents of the minors, upon seeing that their children were not returning home, even when the rain had stopped, went out to look for them and found the two young people dead next to each other.
A coroner ruled out the involvement of a criminal in that event and maintained that it was the result of an electric shock. The impact of the lightning could also be seen in the area, according to local media reports.
The cousins attended their secondary education on Saturdays at a school in their community, where the news shocked the neighbors. The name of the young people was not made public, but they were identified by local media as NJR and WAO, by the initials of their names.
Deaths caused by lightning are common in Nicaragua, especially between May and November,
Photo:iStock
And in recent days, Nicaragua has been experiencing intense rains that have left at least one dead, one injured person and 40 homes. flooded in the departments (provinces) of Managua, Masaya, Boaco and Río San Juan, according to the Army Civil Defense.
The Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (Ineter) explained that the current rains hitting Nicaragua are due to a tropical wave that entered the country between Thursday night and early Friday morning.
The rains that affect Nicaragua are part of the wet season of the year, which officially began on May 20 and will end on November 30.including hurricane season.
Nicaragua is considered a “multi-hazard” country, because it is subject to cyclones, storms, floods, landslides, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, among others.
In that panorama, Deaths caused by lightning are common in Nicaragua, especially between May and November, when the country is under the influence of the wet season of the year.
Last year, for example, a 20-year-old soccer player and his coach were struck by lightning during a strong electrical storm in Managua, the country’s capital.
The incident took place in August when the victims were shocked while sheltering from the rain under a tree. The lightning strike also left another person seriously injured.
According to figures from international agencies, in 2022 at least nine people died in Nicaragua after being struck by lightning. While in 2020 and 2021, at least seven victims were reported due to lightning strikes in the midst of electrical storms in the country.
