Lightning strikes kill 16 at Bangladesh wedding

Several lightning bolts hit a Bangladesh wedding party within a few seconds Wednesday, killing 16 people and injuring the groom, officials said.

The group had just left a boat at the riverside town of Shibganj to take shelter from the thunderstorm when the lightning struck, a government administrator for the town said.

The bride was not with the wedding party, Sakib Al-Rabby told AFP, confirming 16 people died as several bolts struck within a few seconds of each other in the western district of Chapainawabganj.

Fierce monsoon storms have battered Bangladesh. A week of torrential rains in the southeastern district of Cox's Bazar left some 20 dead, including six Rohingya refugees.

Lightning kills hundreds of people in the South Asian nation each year.

According to an official tally, there were more than 200 lightning deaths in 2016, with 82 people dying on a single day in May. Many deaths are never officially recorded, however, and one independent monitor counted at least 349 deaths from lightning strikes.

Some experts say deforestation has increased the death toll with Bangladesh planting hundreds of thousands of palm trees in a bid to ease the impact of climate change and reduce the number of lightning deaths.

Related Links
Weather News at TerraDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Sandstorm engulfs desert city in China
Beijing (AFP) July 27, 2021
A wall of sand over 100 metres high swallowed a city on the fringes of the Gobi desert in northwestern China, in scenes reminiscent of a disaster film. Dunhuang, a tourist draw with a colourful history as a Silk Road outpost, momentarily disappeared in the dust clouds as the storm hit on Sunday. A resident surnamed Zhang told local media Jimu News that the sandstorm came abruptly and swept through the city in five or six minutes. "I couldn't see the sun," he said, adding that the city in Gan ... read more