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'Lightning just came through the door'

VIGIL: Members of the Shezi family gather to mourn the death of their family members. Pic. Mandla Mkhize. © Sowetan.
VIGIL: Members of the Shezi family gather to mourn the death of their family members. Pic. Mandla Mkhize. © Sowetan.

Sne Masuku

Sne Masuku

Eight people were killed by lightning in KwaZulu-Natal at the weekend.

Among the victims were three members of a family from Qanqala, near Umzinto.

Salesiya Shezi, 38, her 12-year-old son and her grandson died within seconds of the lightning striking their home on Saturday.

Shezi's husband, Tsetse Shezi, told Sowetan that his family were waiting for the storm to ease "when suddenly lightning came through the door - and after that I was in a daze".

Shezi said that when he recovered he found that his wife had been fatally struck, together with the children, Mthokozisi and Simo.

He said his other children were hardly breathing so he "pulled their tongues out their mouths, allowing them to breathe".

Now Shezi is left with the burden of raising seven children alone.

"We survived by selling and eating vegetables that my wife used to grow. Now she is gone.

"We survived that thunder but now it looks like we are going to die of hunger."

Also on Saturday, a woman and her two sons died when they were struck by lightning on the south coast.

And a young couple died when they were struck by lightning at Klaarwater, outside Durban.

Paramedics discovered Mzwandile Ngcobo, 23, and Anita Dlamini, 17, lying on the road, still holding hands.

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