BY MAE SINGUAY and CYRUS GARDE
BACOLOD City – Separate lightning strikes in Negros Occidental on Tuesday killed one person and hurt 11 others, police reports showed.
The lone casualty was identified as the 76-year-old Josefino Perez of Hacienda Pepita, Barangay Andres Bonifacio, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.
According to his 50-year-old wife Alice, Perez was walking on his way home when lightning struck him.
It was around noontime when the incident happened, Alice added.
Perez was rushed to the Cadiz City Emergency Clinic but the attending physician pronounced him “dead on arrival,” police said.
Meanwhile, 11 persons were confined at the Bago City District Hospital after lightning struck near a chapel they were in at around 2:30 p.m. on the same day.
Most of those who were hurt were minors. They were the 17-year-old Jelie Belen, 17-year-old Maricar Amar, 17-year-old Aiper Louwyn Escara, 5-year-old Andrea Rose Garcenila, 6-year-old Mark Kevin Cubos, 15-year-old MJ Amar, 3-year-old Joanna Escara, and 9-year-old Mary Jane Bernasol.
The others were the 29-year-old Mary Ann Bernasol, 42-year-old Rosie Chu and 27-year-old Ritchie Mancia.
All of them were residents of Barangay Ma-ao, Bago City, Negros Occidental.
They were attending Flores de Mayo at the chapel when the incident happened, police said.
A heavy rain poured down the area after, said Barangay Captain Ramon Gerona.
Members of the Bago City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office responded to the incident and brought the victims to the hospital./PN
