Three unidentified young men in their early twenties have been killed by a thunderstorm in Ijebu Ode, Ijebu Ode Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Our correspondent gathered that the incident occurred at about 3pm on Thursday during a downpour.
It was learnt that the three victims and one other person were riding on a motorcycle around the former Gateway Hotel annex close to the residence of a former governor of the state when the heavy rain began and they decided to take shelter in a nearby
building.
While they were waiting for the rain to subside before continuing their journey, a sudden thunderstorm was said to have hit the three young men simultaneously. But the fourth person, who escaped unhurt, was said to have immediately taken to his heels.
An eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity, explained that there might be more to the incident than just ordinary death.
He said that death by thunderstorm would usually be construed in Yorubaland as a punishment for an earlier wrong that must have been done by the victim.
The three corpses were left lying at the spot of the incident as at the time of filling this report.
Sympathisers, who thronged the scene of the incident to have a glimpse of the victims, were too distraught to speak with our correspondent.
Police operatives who also visited the scene, did not remove the corpses of the victims and did not even touch a bag said to belong to one of the deceased young
men.
But a sympathizer, Ridwan, identified one of the victims as Ayo from Imomo-Ijebu in Ijebu North East Local Government Area of
the state.
According to him, one of the victims, Ayo, was a commercial motorcycle rider, popularly called okada and also repaired fans.