Seven people, mostly farmers, were killed by lightning in a village in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Thursday, bringing the death toll from lightning strikes to 49 in the state this week.
The farmers had taken shelter in trees during heavy monsoon rains when they were struck by lightning on Tuesday and died instantly.
Police officer Hem Raj Mina said that among the victims were four members of the same family and some ranchers near the city of Kochambi.
State government spokesman Cheshir Singh said the rising death toll had prompted the government to issue new guidance on how people should protect themselves during a thunderstorm.
“More people die from lightning strikes than rain-related accidents, although this is the time when people usually die from floods or other rain-related accidents,” Singh continued.
Colonel Sanjay Srivastava, who works with the Indian Meteorological Department, said lightning has killed nearly 750 people across India since April, including 20 who died in eastern Bihar in the past two days and 16 in central Madhya Pradesh. India earlier this month.
Srivastava noted that deforestation, depletion of water bodies and pollution are all contributing factors to climate change, which leads to more lightning.
According to Sunita Naren, director general of the Center for Science and the Environment, global warming plays a role in the increase in the number of lightning strikes, as an increase in temperature by one degree Celsius leads to an increase in lightning by 12 times, according to the Associated Press.
JP Gupta, director of the Meteorological Department, said that thunderstorms and lightning have increased this year due to increased levels of pollution.
“Rising ground temperature leads to evaporation from water bodies, which increases moisture in the atmosphere,” Gupta explained. “The presence of dust suspended in the atmosphere due to air pollution creates favorable conditions for thunderclouds to stimulate lightning activity.”