/ 18 January 1999

FAMILY KILLED BY LIGHTNING

A LIGHTNING bolt struck a house and killed a family of seven in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape late on Sunday, police said. Two other people were injured and admitted to hospital. Police said a grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, two teenage boys and a girl were killed by the bolt in the Libode area near Umtata. Half an hour before the freak accident, a tornado swept through Mount Frere, 85km from Libode, and ripped the roofs off eight homes. In December a tornado ploughed through Umtata, killing 18 people and injuring 162.