Man and boy killed when lightning strikes vehicle

By ALICE OSII in Vanimo
A man and a boy lost their lives last week in Vanimo after the vehicle they were travelling in was hit by lightning.
Vanimo police station commander Joe Poema said police had conducted investigations into the incident and were compiling report into the matter.
Poema said the body of the man was still in Vanimo General Hospital morgue awaiting the coroner’s report.
The body of the man, whose name has been withheld by police, is yet to be retrieved by his relatives and wife.
It is believed the vehicle was travelling from Wama to Make Base Camp in the Vanimo-Green electorate when it picked up two women and a boy who were in need of a lift.
Some of the relatives of the deceased boy (name withheld) said the vehicle was parked outside one of the logging campsites along the way to pick up one of the workers, who was doing his last shift of the afternoon.
It is believed that as they were waiting, a first flash of lightning struck across the other end of the road, followed by a second strike on the back of the car.
The effect of lightning threw everyone in the vehicle to the ground.
The relatives of the boy took his body to their village but the body of the man is still at the morgue awaiting arrangements for it to be taken to his village.