BHOPAL: Twelve of these deaths have come in the last 24 hours. Shivpuri district is hit the hardest with four deaths, followed by Chhatarpur with three. Most of those killed are farmers who were working in the fields.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has condoled lightning deaths in MP and neighbouring Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
In Gwalior on Sunday, a group of nomadic herders got caught in a thunderstorm, some 20km from the city. Two of them, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed by a lightning bolt, and two were seriously injured.
Maniram Yadav, 65 and his son Kuber were struck down by lightning in Taparia village of Sheopur while returning from their farm on Sunday evening.
In Datia district, which abuts Gwalior and Shivpuri, two girls aged 10 and 17, had sheltered from the rain under the awning of a temple when lightning struck it on Monday afternoon, killing them both. Two persons died in Rewa. In Betul’s Chicholi village, Salakram Marskole, 46, died after being struck by lightning on Sunday morning.
In Bankhedi area of Hoshangabad, about 170km from Bhopal, a man who had ducked under a tree to hide from the rain, died when lightning struck on Monday.
