Rourkela: A 40-year-old man died after lightning struck him in his field at Indrapur village on Thursday evening.

The deceased has been identified as Nabin Kumar Sahu of the same village. With the casualty, the death toll due to lightning in the district rose to six during the current season.

Nabin was working in the field to clear grass, and it was drizzling slightly. Suddenly, lightning struck and he fell down. His friends, who were nearby, took Nabin to Bonai sub-divisional hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead.

Police took possession of the body and filed an unnatural death case. Later, they sent it for post-mortem.

On June 10, lightning killed three persons during a hockey match at Sagbahal in the Talsara police station jurisdiction, nearly 80km from here. The incident had also left two seriously injured, and they survived after four days of medical supervision at Sundargarh district hospital. The incident occurred during the final of a tournament. Incidentally, the three, along with others, had taken shelter under a big banyan tree.

Again on August 13, lightning killed two and left over 12 people injured. The incident occurred in the middle of an inter-village football tournament. The dead were in their teens. The lightning struck around five in the afternoon in the middle of a football match.