Sandip Kumar Mahto (15), Laden Sai (15), Tabrez Sai (14) and Farukh Sai (14) died when lightning struck a house at Alkusa village in Siyaljori, around 20km from the Bokaro district headquarters. Manisha Kumari (5) was returning home to Jara village in Petarwar, around 45km away, through a field with her farmer father when the tragedy struck.
Bokaro district disaster management officer Shakti Kumar said compensation worth Rs 4 lakh each would be paid to the families of the deceased after the completion of post-mortem.
With this, total number of bolt deaths in Bokaro rose to 14 since April this year.
Six persons have been injured and 19 bovine animals killed during the same period.
Comment: Other recent fatalities in India due to lightning occurred in the states of Bihar with 9 deaths and Odisha where 2 were killed. Across Bangladesh a total of 6 have died after being struck in the last two days.