Death toll rises to 64 in Bangladesh lightning

More than 60 people, including women and children, have been killed in Bangladesh in the last 48 hours after being struck by lightning during thundershowers, media reports said today.
Meteorological office said the downpour brought with it thundershowers in 14 districts including Dhaka.
Majority of the 64 people died of lightning strikes since Thursday belonged to rural Bangladesh, where farmers are busy with the current harvesting season, local media reported.
Police said more than 23 people died in Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajbarhi, Joypurhat, Naogaon, Gaibandha, Narhail, Sunamganj, Chandpur, Magura, Kishoreganj, Gazipur and Jessore districts yesterday, bdnews24.Com reported.
At least 33 people were killed in similar incidents in 12 different districts on Thursday.

The lightning that accompanied the seasonal nor'wester storms claimed the highest eight lives in northwestern Pabna.

In Dhaka, among those killed due to sudden thunderbolts include two engineering students who were playing football in the rain when the lightening struck.
The casualties included a number of children who were playing in open grounds during the rain but mostly the victims were farmers, including women, who were in their farmlands.
Rains appeared as a welcome shower after a heat wave scorched the country, but the downpour brought with it the lightning that caused the unusually high number of casualties.
"Bangladesh witnesses the seasonal nor'wester storm every year from March to May when the thunderbolts also occur," meteorologist Hafizur Rahman said, adding that the phenomenon appears mostly in northwestern Rajsahi and Sylhet regions.

Fellow meteorologist Sujit Kumar Deb Sharma said lightning kills up to 300 people on an average each year in Bangladesh though not all the incidents get media coverage.
The Met office has predicted rain or thundershowers with gusty or squally wind in Dhaka, and in northwestern and northeastern regions. Some areas in southwestern and northwestern parts of the country may also receive rain and thundershowers.