LEICESTER, UK—Worshippers had a miracle escape after a lightning strike blew a massive hole in a temple roof yesterday.
A group of elderly women were singing hymns when the roof caved in at the Ramgarhia Sikh Temple in Meynell Road, off Uppingham Road, Leicester, at about 3pm.
The women were showered with debris and roof tiles in the main prayer hall.
A whole section of the gable end of the building was destroyed, while timbers from the roof were thrown up to 40 yards away.
Kulwant Kaur Kalsi, 80, who is the oldest serving member of the temple, was hit by falling debris in the prayer hall.
The 80-year-old said: “It was amazing that no-one was seriously hurt.
“One minute we were sitting there singing, then we heard the thunder and saw the lightning and the roof fell in.
“I was only hit by tiles but a woman was hit by some wood. She had cuts and bruises.”
Temple president Indy Panesar said there were 250 people in the prayer room just half an hour before the lightning struck.
He said: “We had had a thanksgiving service for one of the priests whose daughter had got married.
“Most of the people had dispersed by about 2.30pm and there were only about 50 people left in the temple building.
“There were about 20 people in the main prayer hall, with some of them being the old women singing. It is a miracle no-one was seriously hurt or killed.”
Mr Panesar said the temple’s holy scriptures had also escaped damage in the roof fall.
“The scriptures were in the main prayer hall and could have taken a direct hit, but did not,” he said. “One of the owners respectfully collected them and we put them in a safe place. That was another amazing piece of good fortune.”
Worshipper Mangal Singh Loyal was inside the temple when the lightning struck.
The 67-year-old said: “We heard one thunder clap then lightning struck.
“I heard a terrible noise then looked towards the main prayer hall. Then I saw women coming out screaming and shouting.
“They were covered in debris. I looked inside and there was smoke and rubble everywhere.
“I looked up where the roof had caved in and you could see the sky outside. The hole in the roof is massive.
“One whole end of the roof has been blown off.”
Mr Panesar said structural engineers from Leicester City Council were due to visit to assess the building.
He said the fire service had cordoned off the main prayer hall and declared it out of bounds.
“We have been allowed to carry on using the building,” he said. “We have a smaller prayer room upstairs which we shall use to carry on providing our service to the community.
“We shall remain open as normal.”
One flying piece of timber embedded itself in the windscreen of a car parked outside the temple.
Other pieces of timber and roof tiles were scattered over an area up to 40 yards away.
A section of the road, between the junctions with Fernie Road and Woodland Road, was closed off following the incident.
