KOLKATA: Lightning strikes killed 27 people and four passengers on a flight were hospitalised after severe turbulence during monsoon storms in eastern India on Monday.

Lightning strikes during the June-September annual monsoon are fairly common in India.

Officials said West Bengal was hit by thunderstorms late on Monday, with lightning strikes in parts of the state.

“Many of the 27 killed on Monday evening... in the state were farmers and working in the fields,” West Bengal disaster management minister Javed Ahmed Khan said.

A flight from the western city of Mumbai to Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, was caught in the storm as it was about to land, officials added.

Eight passengers were injured with four taken to hospital.

“One passenger is still admitted in the hospital. The others have been discharged,” the airport’s director C. Pattabhi said.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2021