Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, Sept. 16: At least 12 persons, including three women, were killed when lightning struck them in various parts of the state.

The deceased have been identified as Sunar Routray, 25, Trinath Bahubalendra, 30, Tukuna Patra, 34, and Prdip Patra, 24, of Kaipadar village in Khurda. They were working in a stone quarry.

Madhusudan Routray, 40, and Sanatan Behera, 45, who took shelter under a tree when the rain started, were killed by lightning at Kusumati in Jatni.Two school kids at Jatni and two women in Khurda area were injured in the lightning.

In Cuttack, five people, who were killed in lightning, have been identified as Nilu Nayak, 30, of Jagatpur, Bhanu Mallick, 42, and his brother Babu Mallick, 38, of Badasamatpur and Bhanu Dhehury of Kochila Nuagaon at Choudwar. Later, one Nilu Nayak was killed while she was returning from a local anganwadi centre at Jagatpur.

Another woman, Bhanu Dehury, died after lightning struck her around 2pm.

Bhanu Mallick and his brother Babu were killed while in their Choudwar home.

A Plus Three final-year arts student Mukesh Barik of Choudwar College was injured by lightning around 2:30pm. A man, who was working on the field in Sundargarh district, was also killed when lightning struck him this afternoon.