Lightning Kills 107 in India Monsoon

At least 107 people died of lightning strikes in northern and eastern India on Thursday, officials said, during the early stages of the annual monsoon season.

Some 83 people were killed in the impoverished eastern state of Bihar after lightning strikes, and another 24 died in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Dozens more were injured, officials said.

Lightning strikes during the June-September annual monsoon are very popular in India.

Yet Bihar's Disaster Management Minister Lakshmeshwar Rai told AFP that it was one of the maximum regular lightning tolls the state has reported in recent years.

More than half of the deaths were due to the flood-prone northern and eastern districts of Bihar, he added.

Rai cautioned that the death toll might increase further as his government was still looking for evidence of casualties from the interior of the state.

According to the local Indian Meteorological Department, heavy rain is predicted to strike Bihar on Friday and Saturday.

In neighboring Uttar Pradesh, most of the deaths were reported in the Deoria district along the border with Nepal, and the Holy City of Prayagraj, officials said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences to the victims ' families last Thursday, adding that both state governments were carrying out immediate relief operations.

More than 2,300 people were killed by lightning in India in 2018 according to the National Crime Records Bureau, the most recent figures available.

The monsoon is critical to the replenishment of water sources in South Asia, but it also triggers widespread death and devastation in the country every year.

Source: AFP