Asia-Pacific

Lightning kills 21 in Bangladesh

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-23 16:54

DHAKA - At least 21 people including two children were killed and 19 others injured in lightning strikes in six Bangladesh districts on Monday morning, officials said.

AK Ali Azam, Deputy Commissioner of Chapainawabganj district, some 302 km northwest of capital Dhaka, told Xinhua over phone that nine people, including two children, were killed in lightning in the district early Monday morning.

All the lightning victims were sent to local hospitals, said Azam.

In Rajshahi district, 256 km northwest of capital Dhaka, Deputy Commissioner Subal Ghose Moni said four people were killed and 3 others injured in lightning strike in the district.

He said nearly all the victims were harvesting paddy when lightning struck them.

In Pabna district, some 216 km west of capital Dhaka, two farmers were killed and 13 others injured in thunderbolt in the morning, another official said.

Quoting locals, Deputy Commissioner of the district Mossamah Nazmanara Khannum said 15 farmers were harvesting paddy at a field at around 9 am local time. She said a thunderbolt struck them abruptly, leaving two farmers dead on the spot and 13 others injured critically.

The injured were admitted to a local health complex, she added.

In Joypurhat district, 249 km northwest of capital Dhaka, 2 people were killed in lightning strike on Monday morning, according to Deputy Commissioner Mostafizur Rahman.

In the districts of Naogaon, Khulna and Natore, local administration officials said lightnings killed one people in each district on Monday morning.

Lightning is almost common incident during this time of the year particularly in rural Bangladesh, a flat and low lying river delta country, as climatic changes tumult with the change from the dry season to the rainy summer season.

At least 16 people were killed and a score others injured by lightning during a tropical storm in seven districts of Bangladesh in May last year.