Banka (Bihar): At least 24 people were killed and many injured after being struck by lightning in Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal and Odisha on Saturday. Seven people have been killed in a lightning strike in Bihar's Banka district on Saturday, state Health Minister Mangal Pandey informed. "The news of the death of 7 people due to lightning in Banka district is very sad. The Bihar government is with the victim's family in this hour of disaster. My deepest condolences to the dead and injured in this incident. I pray to God to give peace to the dead and speedy recovery to the injured," Pandey tweeted.
Five killed in Odisha
At least five persons, including three women, died and five others were injured when lightning struck them in three districts of Odisha on Saturday, police said. The incidents took place when all of them were engaged in paddy cultivation work in Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak and Balasore districts, they said. The injured are undergoing treatment in hospital. Meanwhile, one person was electrocuted in a paddy field at Kasabajaypur village in Balasore district after coming in contact with a live electric wire attached to a lift irrigation point, a police officer said.
Tension prevailed in the village as locals prevented police from taking the body for post-mortem examination, demanding adequate compensation for the family of the deceased, officials said.
4 killed, 7 injured in Bengal
At least four people were killed and seven others injured in separate incidents of lightning strikes in two districts of West Bengal, as the flood situation in the southern parts of the state deteriorated after a fresh bout of rain on Saturday. Two persons in their mid-twenties died in Purba Medinipur district's Nandigram, while two others, including a woman, were killed in Purba Bardhaman district when lightning struck them, a senior official said.
Seven people were injured in lightning strikes in Purba Bardhaman district, he said, adding that all the people were working in agricultural fields. Meanwhile, heavy showers aggravated the flood situation in the seven affected south Bengal districts of Hooghly, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Howrah, South 24 Parganas, Birbhum and Paschim Bardhaman, the official said. "It has been raining consistently since Friday night. Though the showers had stopped for some time on Saturday morning, heavy rain resumed in the evening which deteriorated the situation in the flood-hit districts. We are monitoring the situation and ensuring that everyone is in safe shelters and there is enough food," he said. At least 23 people have been killed and several lakhs displaced by the recent floods in the state.
8 killed in Jharkhand
Eight people, including three women and two girls, were killed in separate incidents of lightning strikes in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh and Palamu districts on Saturday, officials said. Six of the seven people were working in their agricultural fields, while a 13-year-old boy was returning home when lightning struck them, they said. Six deaths took place in Hazaribag district, and two in Palamu, the officials said. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem examination, they added.
Lightning activities have shown an increasing trend all over India in the past two decades, said Union Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh on Friday. In reply to a question on Lok Sabha, the Minister further elaborated that a mobile app called "Damini" lightning app has been developed to monitor lightning activities in the skies.
(agency inputs)
