New Delhi: At least 120 people have been killed in several lightning strikes in India.
At least 95 people were killed in lightning strikes in India's poorest state of Bihar on Thursday, according to a foreign news agency. Onish Kumar, a senior disaster management officer in the state, confirmed the deaths. The dead included several children and farmers who were out of their homes to graze animals. Similarly, lightning killed 24 people in Uttar Pradesh and 3 in Maharashtra.
It should be noted that an average of 2,000 lives are lost every year in lightning strikes in northern India, but recent deaths have reached the highest level in many years. Lightning strikes occur in India every year between April and July. This period is the arrival of the monsoon.
According to an NGO, there were 1,333 deaths in the four months from April to July last year. Most of the dead were living in rural areas and most had taken refuge under trees after the lightning.
