In the past 48 hours, 22 people have died because of lightning strikes in Bangladesh. The authorities reported the incident today morning, a week after the monsoon rains caused a number of deadly landslides in the country.
Disaster Management Department Reaz Ahmed informed the deaths were caused by the storms that affected the country on Sunday and Monday.
Among the 22 people that died, a couple along with the young daughter were struck by lightning while working on a peanut farm.
Every year, hundreds are killed in Bangladesh by lightening but climate change has worsened the situation.
Climate experts blame deforestation and the loss of taller trees which would act as lightning conductors.
Last year, it was reported 349 people were killed by lightning strikes.
The disaster management officials took the situation seriously and spent months coming up with ways to reduce the death rate due to lightning. The officials have decided on a program to plant a million palm trees.
The meteorological department has worked towards training 20,000 school students on ways to avoid getting struck by lightening.
Last week, Bangladesh witnessed a horrifying natural disaster when 160 people were killed and hundreds of homes were damaged in a number of landslides that were triggered due to the heavy monsoon rains.
