Skip to main content
Best News Website or Mobile Service
WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Best News Website or Mobile Service
Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Hamburger Menu

Advertisement

Advertisement

Asia

Lightning strikes kill 27 during India monsoon storm

Lightning strikes kill 27 during India monsoon storm

Nearly 2,900 people were killed by lightning in India in 2019 according to the National Crime Records Bureau - the most recent figures available. (File photo: AFP/Rakesh Bakshi)

KOLKATA: Lightning strikes killed 27 people and four passengers on a flight were hospitalised after severe turbulence during monsoon storms in eastern India, officials said on Tuesday (Jun 8).

Lightning strikes during the June to September annual monsoon are fairly common in India.

Officials said that West Bengal was hit by thunderstorms late on Monday, with lightning strikes in parts of the state.

"Many of the 27 killed on Monday evening ... in the state were farmers and working in the fields," West Bengal disaster management minister Javed Ahmed Khan told AFP.

READ: Huge swathes of farm land swamped in eastern India after cyclone

READ: Latest Indian cyclone kills five, leaves thousands homeless

A flight from the western city of Mumbai to Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, was caught in the storm as it was about to land, officials added.

Eight passengers were injured with four taken to hospital.

"One passenger is still admitted in the hospital. The others have been discharged," the airport's director C Pattabhi told AFP.

"It was a close shave for the passengers."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced financial compensation for the families of the victims and those who were injured.

Nearly 2,900 people were killed by lightning in India in 2019 according to the National Crime Records Bureau - the most recent figures available.

The monsoon is crucial to replenishing water supplies in South Asia, but also causes widespread death and destruction across the region each year.

Source: AFP/kg

Advertisement

Also worth reading

Advertisement