The Turks who occupy the island of Rhodes used the vaults of a church in the town to store gunpowder. A lightning strike ignited the magazine and the resulting explosion destroyed a large part of the town along with between 400 and 500 inhabitants. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1858 (Boston: Crosby, Nichols, and Company, 1857), 367.