Nearly 50 people have been killed by lightning in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state within the past week, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Thursday, noting that India has recorded almost 750 deaths from lightning strikes nationwide since April.
“Seven people, mostly farmers, were killed by lightning in a village [Kaushambi] in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state [on July 26], police said Thursday, bringing the death toll by lightning to 49 people in the state this week,” the AP reported on July 28.
The seven people killed by lightning on the outskirts of Kaushambi on July 26 were part of a group that found itself caught by a sudden rainstorm while walking in an open field. The group tried to seek shelter under some nearby trees when lightning struck and killed seven of its members.
“The victims included four members of a family and some cattle grazers,” local police officer Hem Raj Meena told the AP.
Tragically, the seven lightning victims in Kaushambi on July 26 were not the only people to die from the natural phenomenon in Uttar Pradesh that day. State government officials issued a statement this week confirming that another five people were killed by lightning strikes on Tuesday in the Uttar Pradesh city of Prayagraj. The press release further revealed that another six people died via lightning strikes on July 25 in the Uttar Pradesh cities of Ghazipur (4) and Bhadohi (2).
“Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed grief over the loss of lives, and has directed officials to provide financial assistance of ₹ 4 lakh [$5,026.91 USD] to the family of the each deceased in Bhadohi and Kaushambi [sic],” the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on July 27.
A total of 18 people died from injuries sustained during electrical storms across Uttar Pradesh within the 48-hour period spanning July 25 to July 26. The Uttar Pradesh state government responded to the recent spate of lightning deaths this week by issuing new guidelines directing people on the best ways to protect themselves from electrical discharges during heavy rainstorms.
“People are dying more from lightning than rain-related incidents, though this is the time when people (typically) die of floods or other rain-related incidents,” Uttar Pradesh government spokesman Shishir Singh told the AP on July 28.
Singh referred to India’s annual monsoon season, which lasts from June to September and causes heavy rainstorms across the Indian subcontinent.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers the following advice for people to avoid being struck by lightning:
If you are caught outside with no safe shelter nearby, the following actions might reduce your risk of being struck by lightning: Immediately get off elevated areas such as hills, mountain ridges, or peaks. Never lie flat on the ground. Crouch down in a ball-like position with your head tucked and hands over your ears so that you are down low with minimal contact with the ground.
Never shelter under an isolated tree. If you are in a forest, shelter near lower trees. Never use a cliff or rocky overhang for shelter. Immediately get out of and away from ponds, lakes, and other bodies of water. Stay away from objects that conduct electricity (such as barbed wire fences, power lines, or windmills).
The seven people who died near Kaushambi on July 26 “had taken shelter under trees” immediately prior to being fatally struck by lightning, according to the AP. Three of the four lightning victims in Ghazipur on July 25 similarly tried to shelter under a tree moments before their deaths, PTI revealed.
“[F]our people, including three cousins, died after being struck by lightning in separate incidents, police said,” the news agency relayed.
“Late on Monday evening, three cousins took shelter under a tree outside Mastipur village under the Bhudkuda Kotwali police station area. They died after they were struck by lightning,” according to PTI.
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