Lightning strikes kill 100 people in Cambodia in 9 months

Lightning strikes have killed at least 100 people in Cambodia in the first nine months this year, down 3 percent from 103 deaths in the same period last year, a disaster control official said Tuesday. Besides the dead, thunderbolts have injured 74 others during the January-September period this year, Keo Vy, spokesman for the National Committee for Disaster Management, said, adding that most of the victims lived in rural areas. "The decline in casualties this year is thanks to people's awareness on how to make themselves safe from lightning strikes when there are strong rains with lightning and thunderstorms," he told Xinhua. Cambodia has one of the highest rates of death due to lightning or 7.8 deaths per million people annually, he said.