Lightning strikes have killed 23 people and injured 10 others during thunderstorms and heavy rain in eastern India, a Government official has said.
Official Upendra Pal said thirteen of the people killed were working on farms in Gopalganj district, 110 miles north of Patna – the Bihar state capital.
The injured are receiving hospital treatment, he said.
Heavy rains before the onset of the monsoon season have hit the region.
In July last year, lightning killed 39 people in Bihar state, also during monsoon rains, which last until September.
Last month, a powerful cyclone battered the coastline of India and Bangladesh, prompting a frantic evacuation of more than 2.6 million people.
Cyclone Amphan, the equivalent of a category-3 hurricane, brought winds of up to 118mph.
A woman crushed by a tree and a 13-year-old girl killed near Kolkata were among the deaths reported in India.
In southern Bangladesh, a volunteer in a cyclone preparedness team drowned when a boat capsized in a canal.
Thunderstorms and heavy rain could endanger India’s fight against coronavirus, with supply lines cut and lockdown measures slowing relief work.
In the capital of New Delhi, which has reported more than 70,000 cases, authorities said they would conduct house-to-house screening over the coming two weeks.
With the city’s hospitals overwhelmed, military personnel are providing care at makeshift medical wards fashioned from train carriages.
India reported a record high 16,922 cases on Thursday, taking the national total to 473,105, with nearly 15,000 deaths.
