Taxi driver injured in separate strike
Two workers killed by lightning strike in Erbil village
ERBIL — Two workers died in a lightning strike in the village of Qushaghlu in the Qushtapa sub-district of Erbil, officials said. The incident occurred around 10 a.m. while they were working.
The Kurdistan Region has been experiencing several days of thunderstorms and rain, which persisted today.
The bodies of the victims, aged 31 and 24, were transferred to the forensic medicine department in Erbil, a source from the department told 964media.
In a separate incident on Monday, a lightning strike damaged an internet signal tower at the Erbil Traffic Department, causing an internet outage in the directorate’s network and injuring a taxi driver, officials reported. The driver was hospitalized.
Although initial reports on social media suggested a fatality from the strike, a spokesperson for the directorate clarified to 964media that the strike was powerful but only caused minor damage to the tower’s upper floor.
Eyewitness Kamaran Yasin told 964media, “I was the first to approach the taxi driver struck by lightning and found him in good health before he was sent to the hospital.”
The directorate has advised citizens to avoid visiting until the internet issue is resolved.
On Monday evening, another man died in the Taza sub-district, south of Kirkuk, after being struck by lightning while herding sheep.
According to a relative, Rami Taha Al-Abadi, 31, was herding sheep in Taza when he was hit. Al-Abadi, a married father of three, including a child with special needs, lived in the village of Al-Ibadah in the Laylan sub-district.
Local residents transported his body to Taza Hospital and then to the forensic medicine department, the relative told 964media.
Heavy rain clears Erbil pollution
