The prefecture of Télimélé was the scene of a black series on Saturday, October 18, 2025, where lightning took the lives of three people within a few hours, sowing dismay and incomprehension among the populations of Sinta and Gougoudjè.

The first victim was Ibrahima Sory Sylla, known as "Dimbaye Sârè." This traditional healer, polygamist and father of nine children, was struck down around 3 p.m. while traveling on a motorcycle.

"He was going to Tourkoun (sub-prefecture of Sogolon) for a mission to conciliate two relatives. He was killed instantly by lightning in Bowal Kontine (a border town between Sinta and Sogolon), when it wasn't even raining," said Amadou Yéro Diallo, DSEE of Sogolon and a relative of the victim, contacted by telephone by a journalist from Guineematin.

Mr. Diallo also said that the electric shock hit women who were in a nearby pasture. Their rescue was swift thanks to the intervention of local residents who "grabbed their tongues to prevent them from swallowing it."

The second tragedy took place in the Bakolo district, under the Gougoudjè sub-prefecture. Two foster brothers died simultaneously, struck by lightning while sheltering from the rain under a shed. Our source was keen to deny certain rumors, specifying that "none of the victims were using their phones."

Their phones were in their pockets,” he insists.

These three deaths add to an already grim toll in the region. Last Monday, the Kollet sub-prefecture recorded two more lightning victims: a mother and her 17-year-old son, killed while eating their evening meal in the living room of their home.