Three boys were killed and four suffered injuries when lightning struck them in Giddenahalli at Marle on Friday.

The dead are Lathish (14), Basavaraju (12) and Prasanna (13). The injured, Kiran, Mahendra, Krishnamurthy and Ishwara, have been admitted to a hospital.

The lightning struck a tree under which the children were playing, sources said. A coconut palm was uprooted on Rathnagiri Road and the pandals erected for BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s election rally collapsed due to heavy rain in Chikmagalur.