Three teenagers killed by lightning strike in central Cuba

Havana.- Three teenagers died on Sunday and a fourth was injured after being struck by lightning during an electrical storm in Manicaragua (central Cuba), official media reported on Monday, citing sources from the provincial government of Villa Clara. The deceased are two males and one female between 13 and 14 years old; one of them resided in the United States. The injured, also a 14-year-old minor, was transferred to the Santa Clara pediatric hospital and, according to the newspaper Vanguardia, is “conscious”, “oriented” and “evolving favorably”.

Events due to electrical discharges are not uncommon in Cuba, especially in July and August, due to summer storms. According to a 2020 study by the Institute of Meteorology (Insmet), the annual average is 54 deaths from lightning strikes.

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According to that record, between 1987 and 2017 a total of 1,742 people died from being struck by lightning, a figure that far exceeds the number of human losses left by hurricanes, tornadoes, intense rainfall events and coastal floods and other natural disasters on the island.