Two sixth-grade students were electrocuted to death and four others injured after lighting caused several electrical wires to break in front of their school in the southern Vietnamese province of Long An on Saturday.

The incident occurred during a heavy downpour in the afternoon at the entrance of An Luc Long Middle School, located in the namesake commune in Chau Thanh District.

The six victims were the first students to leave their school that day.

As soon as they exited, a loud bang could be heard before three electrical wires of the medium-voltage line snapped and fell onto the youngsters.

Dinh Thien Bao and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, both 11, were killed while the other four were injured and admitted to the hospital for emergency treatment.

According to the power company in Chau Thanh District, the power lines have the capacity of 110 kilovolts.

There was a power outage across the district during the time of the incident, they added.

“Electric power stored within the wires could have been triggered by the lightning and thus killed the young students,” said Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, deputy director of Long An Province’s power company.

“We are coordinating with relevant authorities to further investigate the case,” Tuan continued.

The provincial power sector has decided to offer support worth VND50 million (US$2,135) to each family of the deceased and VND20 million ($854) to those of the injured, Dan Tri online newspaper reported.