Bhubaneswar: The residents of a Cuttack village carried two farmers, fatally burned after being struck by lightning, on their shoulders for nearly 8km as the driver of the ambulance they called allegedly denied transporting them on Sunday evening.The incident occurred in Bishnupur village under Tigiria block, where Naba Kishore Rout and Mandardhar Pati were struck by lightning while resting in a nearby hut around 5 pm. Villagers alleged that emergency personnel, including police, fire services and an ambulance team, reached the spot, but none took them to a nearby hospital at Athagarh.The family members and villagers, finding no other option, carried them on their shoulders to the nearest healthcare facility, from where they were transported to a hospital, only to be declared dead on arrival.Satrughna Samal, a relative, said Rout and Pati had taken shelter in a hut near their agricultural field amid nor’wester rain, when lightning struck. As a result, the hut caught fire, and they got trapped.“People immediately called fire services and an ambulance, and then tried to douse the fire but to no avail. After the ambulance denied ferrying them, we took them on our shoulders to Tigiria Chak,” said Samal, adding they staged a protest against the apathetic attitude.Later, a govt officer reached the protest site and arranged a vehicle to take them to Athagarh hospital. As they were brought dead, the bodies were kept for postmortem, conducted on Monday.Athagarh assistant collector Manas Ranjan Behera said an ex gratia of Rs 20,000 has been given to the next of kin of each deceased from Red Cross fund. “As they died due to lightning, next of kin of each deceased will get Rs 4 lakh from govt,” he said.He added they will investigate why the ambulance refused to take the farmers to the hospital. “We will take action against those found guilty,” he said.
