Lightning kills 64 Cambodians in 1st six months

PHNOM PENH, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Lightning strikes had killed 64 Cambodian people in the first six months of this year, a 35 percent decrease compared with the 99 deaths at the same period last year, a senior disaster official said Friday.

Thirteen of the dead were female and most of the victims lived in rural areas, said Keo Vy, chief of the Cabinet of the National Committee for Disaster Management.

Besides the dead, the lighting strikes had also injured 63 others.

He said that the decrease in death toll is thanks to the government's efforts in educating people about how to make themselves safe from lightning strikes and people themselves are very careful and just stay in homes when there are torrential rains and lightning.

Lightning occurs every year in Cambodia, especially, in rainy season which begins from May through October.

In the whole year of 2011, lightning strikes killed 165 people and injured 139 others.