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144 goats, 44 sheep killed due to lightning strike in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi
The herders had taken their 1,000-strong flock of sheep and goats to the greener pastures near the village when a lightning struck 188 of them resting under a tree on Saturday night
Over 144 goats and 44 sheep were killed due to a lightning strike near Mathnao in Khattu Khal village in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district, revenue officials said on Sunday.
The herders had taken their 1,000-strong flock of sheep and goats to the greener pastures near the village when the lightning struck 188 of them resting under a tree at around 9pm on Saturday night and died instantaneously, said the officials.
The revenue administration team from Dunda block in the district rushed to the spot to assess the situation and conducted the post-mortem of the deceased animals and completed the other formalities of providing interim relief to the affected family.
Pratap Singh Chauhan, Naib Tehsildar Dunda block in Uttarkashi said, “The incident occurred at night when the livestock of the sheep of Bhagat Ram and Sanjiv Singh from Varsu village in Uttarkashi district were resting and the duo was busy with the preparation of dinner at night.”
Animal husbandry is the main source of occupation for the family and their livelihood depends on the sale of sheep and goat by-products including meat, said the official.
The intermittent rains for the past three to five days in the district have also been accompanied with incidents of lightning and thunder.
Indian meteorological (IMD) Dehradun department has sounded yellow alert for March 29 and 30 with forecast of thunderstorms and lighting accompanied by squalls in isolated places in the state.
