PATNA: Lightning strikes claimed the lives of 14 more people in Bihar during the last 24 hours. On Wednesday, six people were killed in lightning strike incident in Nawada district alone.According to Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), the incident took place at Auraiya under Pakaribarawan, Kadirganj and Roh police station area in Nawada district. The victims were engaged in agricultural work when the lightning struck. Chief minister Nitish Kumar expressed grief over the deaths and announced ex-gratia of Rs.4 lakh to next of kin of the deceased. The directive in this regard has been issued to state disaster management department, the CMO said in statement issued on Wednesday. Earlier, eight people were killed in lightning strike incidents in four districts of the state on August 2.Patna and Aurangabad reported three deaths each followed by one each in Nawada and Saran, the CMO said. As many as 26 people have died in different lightining strike incidents in the state since August 1 this year. According to the latest Bihar economic survey (2023-24) report tabled in the state assembly during the budget session in February, state witnessed 400 lightning related deaths in 2022. Among the lightning prone districts, the highest deaths were reported from Gaya (46), followed by Bhojpur (23), Nawada (21) and Banka (21), Aurangabad (20), Nalanda and Kaimur (18 deaths each).
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