World
Lightning strike kills 17 in Bangladesh wedding party
Dhaka: Several lightning bolts hit a wedding party on a boat in northwestern Bangladesh, killing at least 17 people and injuring over dozen.
As per officials, the incident took place on Wednesday and the groom was among the injured while bride was not on the boat when it was struck.
A government administrator for the town said that the groom and others aboard were on their way to the bride’s house. The group had just left a boat at the riverside town of Shibganj to take shelter from the thunderstorm.
However, the lightning hit the boat as it reached the bank of the Padma River.
Lightning kills hundreds of people, mostly farmers in their fields, are killed by lightning in the South Asian nation each year.
As per official tally, there were over 200 lightning deaths in 2016, with 82 people dying on a single day in May.
As per official reports, most lightning deaths in Bangladesh occur between March and July.
Some experts say the rise in fatal lightning strikes is related to deforestation, which has led to the disappearance of many tall trees that would have drawn the lightning. The country has planted hundreds of thousands of palm trees in a bid to ease the impact of climate change and reduce the number of lightning deaths.
Meanwhile, worsening air pollution and global warming are also contributing to an increase in the frequency of lightning strikes in Bangladesh.
In addition, the government declared lightning strikes a natural disaster in 2016.