Lightning strikes kill 27 in Pakistan

Officials said separate incidents of lightning killed at least 27 people and injured over two dozens of others in different areas of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province during the last 24 hours, local media reported Friday morning.

Saeed Ghani, the provincial government spoke man said that local authorities declared an emergency and rushed rescuers to the Thar Desert in the province of Sindh after the overnight tragedy.

He added that several dozen people including women and children were being treated at the hospitals.

They sustained injuries caused by lightning and falling structures due to the rain.

Aslam Chandio, the local rescue official said that three districts including Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur were hit by heavy rains from Thursday evening that continued into Friday.

Anwar Kazimi the spokesperson for Edhi charity that works in the region equally added that the death toll might increase as information were pouring in from remote villages still inaccessible for rescuers.

Flash floods, land erosion, cloudbursts, droughts and smog resulting in low air quality have been on the rise in Pakistan in recent years.

Climate expert Chaudhry Qamar Zaman also said that sandwiched between highly industrialized China and India, Pakistan would have to bear the brunt of the global warming.

Zaman added that both the state and people will have to realise the gravity of the problem and act swiftly.(dpa/NAN)