Lightning storms kill 32 in India

New Delhi: At least 32 people were killed by lightning across India’s northern states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh during monsoon storms, officials and news reports said yesterday.

Twenty-one people were killed in eight districts in the eastern state of Bihar since Friday evening, the ANI news agency reported.

While most victims were directly hit by the strikes, some deaths were reported after huts and trees collapsed. The victims were “mostly farmers or homeless (people) who were outdoors”.

Eleven other people were killed in similar incidents in the state of Uttar Pradesh, officials said.

Dozens of people have been killed in such incidents in northern India in recent days.

Last week, more 100 people were killed in lightning strikes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in one single day.