By Matabeleland North Correspondent

TWO siblings died on the spot while their sister aged six was injured when they were struck by lightning while gathering wild fruit about 300 metres from their parents’ homestead in Kamativi, outside Hwange.

The deceased siblings have been identified as Ponoza and Shibbo Muleya, aged eight and four, while their six year old sister Vigilant narrowly survived, according to a report made to the police.

The trio from Gale village 4 under Chief Pashu in Kamativi had left their father Khumbulani Muleya’s homestead to look for red/pink ivory (umnyiyi) fruits in a nearby bush.

While there, it started raining and they were struck by lighting which burnt some branches of the tree.

Their father narrated how he discovered his two children dead under an umnyiyi tree on Sunday.

“On Sunday around 3pm the three went to a nearby bush to collect some wild fruit. It started raining while they were still in the bush and I sent their other sibling Akili to go and call them since there was thunder and lightning,” said Muleya.

“I was shocked when Akili came back running saying his siblings were motionless under a tree and I rushed to the
scene,” said a distraught Muleya in a telephone interview.

He said he was finding it difficult to imagine that his children were no more.

Akili is aged 11.