Death toll in lightning, rain-related incidents reaches 39

Death toll in lightning, rain-related incidents reaches 39

Lahore/Quetta/Peshawar: Death toll in lightning strikes and rain-related incidents in Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday reached 39.

In Punjab, the lightning-related death toll rose to 21 after four more deaths on Sunday, a spokesperson of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said. The victims include nine men, five women and seven children.

Lightning strikes have occurred in Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajanpur, Lodhran, Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar.

In Balochistan, the death toll from lightning and rain-related incidents rose to eight after five more people were killed in Chaman and Dera Bugti areas.

Officials said three people were killed when lightning struck a village in Chaman.

The power supply has been severely affected, with electric pylons uprooted in Pasni and Panjgur areas, leading to outages lasting hours in Quetta and surrounding areas.

In KP, two persons were killed and 10 others injured in rain-related incidents in Lower and Upper Chitral districts as heavy rain continued to lash large parts of the province.

Heavy rains damaged highways, roads and houses, disrupting traffic and forcing people to move to safe places.