A student at the Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) in Umlazi, south of Durban, KwaZulu Natal, was killed by lightning in the early hours of Saturday morning. Mpumezi Mndetywa (22) who was doing his final year at the university passed away inside his room, at the university's off-campus residence.

A statement issued by the office of the Dean of Students, Thembi Kweyama, confirmed that Mndetywa who hails from the Eastern Cape was hit by lightning while sleeping in his room on campus. "It is with a heavy heart to report that we lost one of our students on Saturday. Mpumezi Mndwetywa, a third-year student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who succumbed to his burns sustained following a severe lightning storm that residents in Durban experienced on Friday night," Kweyama said.

Kwenyama added ,in the statement, that the storm resulted in a fire affecting some of the rooms on the 3rd floor of Craigle,e an external university residence in Glenwood. "Sadly Mndwetywa was asleep in his room when it was struck by a bolt of lightning," she said. Kweyama further said that student counselling be available for all those students affected.