World of the Bizarre

Dozens killed by lightning strikes in India

By T.K. Randall
July 13, 2021 ·  5 comments

Lightning strikes kill thousands in India each year. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 2.5 Blyskawica Being struck by lightning might seem like one of the least likely ways to die, but in India, bolts from the blue are responsible for an average of 2,000 deaths every year.

This statistic was brought into sharp focus at the weekend when 16 people who had been taking selfies at the top of a 12th-Century watch tower in the city of Jaipur were killed by a lightning strike.

On the same day, a further nine people were killed by lightning strikes in Rajasthan state while a further 41 were killed in Uttar Pradesh state - most of them women and children.In Firozabad city, two men who had been sheltering under a tree were killed instantly.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), deaths from lightning strikes have doubled in India over the last 50 years - mostly due to changes in the Earth's climate.

In 2018, the southern state of Andhra Pradesh was hit by lightning 36,749 times in just 13 hours.

Last year, 100 people were killed across two states in the month of June alone.

Source: BBC News | Comments (5)

Tags: Lightning, India