Lightning strikes kill 95 people in Cambodia last year: spokesman

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Lightning strikes had claimed 95 lives in Cambodia in 2019, down 14 percent from 110 deaths in a year earlier, a disaster control spokesman said on Thursday.

Besides the fatalities, thunderbolts injured 83 others during the January-December period last year, said Keo Vy, the spokesman for the National Committee for Disaster Management.

He attributed the decline to people's awareness of protecting themselves from being struck by lightning.

"To avoid the dangers of lightning strikes, people, especially those living in rural areas, should stay in houses or shelters when there is storm or rain," he told Xinhua.

According to the spokesman, lightning strikes occur often during the rainy season from May to October.

In addition to the casualties from lightning strikes, Mekong River and flash floods, that hit parts of the country in September, claimed 30 lives, as storms killed eight people and injured 131 others last year, he said.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-01/02/c_138674287.htm