Kolkata, Sep 19: At least one person was killed, and 22 others were injured after lightning struck a group of football players and spectators who had taken shelter under a tree during a rainstorm at a football tournament in West Bengal’s Jhargram district, police said on Saturday.

The incident occurred on Friday evening in Kumarbandh village under the Lalgarh police station area, where a two-day football tournament had been organised for Vishwakarma Puja. According to local residents, play was halted after sudden rain accompanied by lightning. Players and spectators gathered under a tarpaulin erected beneath a tree when a lightning bolt struck the shelter.

Officers of Lalgarh police station reached the spot after receiving the information. The injured were rescued and first taken to the Lalgarh Primary Health Centre, where doctors declared one person dead.

The condition of four others was critical. They were quickly shifted to the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital. Later, on the instructions of the district administration, the remaining 17 injured were also taken to the same hospital. One person is undergoing treatment at the Lalgarh Rural Hospital.

The deceased was identified as Deepen Murmu (19), a Class 11 student and a resident of Kumarbandh village.

According to police, a two-day football tournament for 16 football teams was organised at Kumarbandh on the occasion of Vishwakarma Puja. This was the first day of the football tournament when the tragedy struck.

Recalling the incident, eyewitness Sagen Hansda said a powerful lightning strike plunged the area into darkness. When he regained his senses, he found most of those gathered lying on the ground and helped move them from a waterlogged area of the playground to safer ground.

Manav Singla, Superintendent of Police, Jhargram, said police acted swiftly to rescue the victims and ensure their transfer to hospitals for treatment.

Local MLA Lakshmi Kanta Sau visited the hospital and met the injured. He said the state government had directed officials to ensure proper medical treatment and extend all necessary support to the affected families.

Gandhinagar, Sep 10: The Gujarat government has completed DNA sample collection from relatives of 29 of the 30 people from the state, including Non-Resident Gujaratis (NRGs), who remain missing or uncontactable following the August 26 flash floods in Nepal, particularly along the Nepal-Tibet border and Bhote Koshi River corridor.

The samples are being processed for DNA profiling to help identify bodies and human remains recovered in the disaster. The process for the remaining missing person is also underway.

The Gujarat State Non-Resident Gujaratis’ Foundation (NRGF), under the NRI Division of the General Administration Department, has been coordinating with the families and authorities in India and abroad to facilitate the DNA collection and identification process.

The initiative is being carried out in accordance with guidelines issued by the Central government, under which designated forensic laboratories have been identified for DNA sample collection and profiling of first-degree relatives of missing persons.

DNA profiling at laboratories designated for the purpose is being undertaken free of cost, as directed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Six designated laboratories in Gujarat are facilitating the process, with DNA profiling being undertaken in Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Junagadh and Rajkot.

The National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) in Gandhinagar, is coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs on DNA profiling of samples collected in India and their linkage with the identification process in Nepal.

A 10-member NFSU forensic team has also been involved in the identification efforts in Nepal. Nepal Police has separately initiated DNA profiling of recovered bodies and human remains following the incident.

NRGF has been personally contacting relatives of each missing person and guiding them about the designated laboratories, available facilities and the procedure for DNA sample collection and profiling.

It has also been coordinating with NRGs and relatives living abroad to ascertain the action taken by local authorities in their respective countries.

In cases involving relatives in New Zealand, the United States, Canada and African countries, NRGF has obtained information about DNA samples collected by authorities in those countries and the status of the identification process.

In several cases, samples of relatives living abroad have already been collected through the respective local authorities.

The DNA profiling reports are being sent directly by the designated laboratories to Nepalese authorities through the official email addresses and contact numbers notified by the them for the identification exercise.

Nepal Police has also requested first-degree relatives of missing people living abroad to undergo DNA profiling at authorised forensic laboratories in their respective countries.

The Gujarat Government, through the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC), district administrations and NRGF, has been coordinating efforts to trace people from the state and Gujaratis living abroad who were reported missing or remain uncontactable after the floods.

A consolidated list of missing and untraceable persons prepared by SEOC and NRGF has also been shared with the Nepal government. So far, 30 people, including NRGs, remain untraceable from the flood-affected areas.

Those reported missing or out of contact include people from Ahmedabad, Anand, Banaskantha, Kheda, Gandhinagar, Surat, Valsad, Rajkot and other parts of Gujarat. Several had travelled to Nepal for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through different travel agencies and routes.

The scale of the disaster has made conventional identification difficult in cases where bodies or human remains have been severely damaged or recovered in parts.

Nepal has therefore begun a large-scale DNA identification exercise, with samples being collected from relatives and compared with DNA obtained from recovered remains.

The DNA-based process is expected to help establish the identities of victims from Gujarat and other parts of India, as well as foreign nationals, and provide families with confirmation about the fate of relatives who remain missing.

Kathmandu, Sep 7: A national day of mourning is being observed on Monday in Nepal in honour of those who lost their lives in the devastating flood that struck the Bhote Koshi River in Rasuwa district on August 26.

A Cabinet meeting held on September 3 decided to observe a national day of mourning on Monday in honour of those who lost their lives in the deadly floods, which occurred 13 days ago.

The national flag was flown at half-mast at government offices across Nepal, as well as at Nepali embassies and diplomatic missions abroad.

According to the Nepal Police, as many as 1,353 bodies of people who died in the floods had been recovered by Sunday evening.

According to the latest details, the recovered bodies include 530 men and 328 women, while 495 bodies were recovered in parts and remain unidentified.

Police said 3,992 people remain out of contact, including 595 foreign nationals.

Police said 1,044 of the recovered bodies have been safely buried, while the identification and management of the remaining bodies are underway.

Meanwhile, Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah has urged elderly people affected by the floods not to feel that they are alone, assuring them that the state and government stand firmly with them.

Issuing a message on social media on Monday, Prime Minister Shah said, “You are not alone. The state is with you, and the government is with you.”

In an emotional statement, Prime Minister Shah noted that during the floods, some elderly parents had to flee to higher ground while clutching their grandchildren with trembling hands, without even caring about their own lives.

They were forced to endure such difficult circumstances in the later years of their lives, he said.

“Even legs that could barely move two steps without the support of a walking stick found extraordinary strength at that moment to save their children,” he added.

Security agencies have continued search and rescue operations for people who remain out of contact, particularly at hydropower projects along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river corridors.

According to the Independent Power Producers’ Association, Nepal (IPPAN), a representative body of private-sector power developers in Nepal, as many as 919 people employed at 11 hydropower projects remained out of contact as of Sunday evening.

There have been a few successful rescues of people alive from some hydropower projects, including two Nepali nationals from the 60-MW Upper Trishuli 3A project on September 4 and a Chinese national from the 216-MW Upper Trishuli-1 project on September 5.