21 October 2014
At least 50 police recruits escaped death by a whisker
after a tent they were using during training at Lowdale Training Centre in
Shamva was struck by a bolt of lightning, injuring three of them last Thursday.
While official figures indicated that there were 50
recruits and three were injured, impeccable police sources at Morris Depot said
there were 60 recruits and 15 of them were injured, eight seriously. The sources said of the eight seriously
injured, six were still admitted at Morris Depot Camp Clinic by yesterday,
while two were at Parirenyatwa Hospital. The sources said the bolt of lightning
struck while the recruits were on a shooting training session.
But police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi
yesterday said all the affected recruits had since resumed training. "Three
recruits sustained minor injuries and were taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital for
further management," he said. "They were admitted for two days and
later discharged."
The incident involving recruits from Morris Depot occurred
between 6pm and 7pm, while the 15 injured were all females. The number of
instructors who were accompanying the recruits could not be established, but
seven of the recruits were examined and discharged after their degree of
injuries was said to be minor. Although details were still sketchy by
yesterday, police sources said the recruits were conducting a shooting exercise
at the farm as part of their training. They were struck by lightning following
rains that were experienced in some of parts of the country last Thursday.
The Herald understands that recruits usually undergo
one-week training sessions at the farm, conducting shooting exercises with FN
rifles and other weapons as part of their training. This was the first incident
in which recruits and members of the police are struck by lightning during
training in the country.
Several people have been killed, while others were injured
after being struck by lightning in recent months and years. In February this
year, several people were left homeless after five homesteads were struck by
lightning in Muzarabani. Last year, 38 people were struck by lightning across
the country during the rainy season.
Lightning is described by experts as a powerful sudden
flow of electricity (an electrostatic discharge) accompanied by thunder that
occurs during a storm. The discharge will travel between the electrically
charged regions within a thundercloud, or between a cloud and another cloud, or
between a cloud and the ground. The charged regions within the atmosphere
temporarily equalise themselves through a lightning flash, commonly referred to
as a strike if it hits an object on the ground. There are three primary types
of lightning: from a cloud to itself (intra-cloud or IC); from one cloud to
another cloud (CC) and between a cloud and the ground (CG). Although lightning
is always accompanied by the sound of thunder, distant lightning may be seen,
but may be too far away for the thunder to be heard.
Source:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201410210740.html
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