Lightning kills 4, raising death toll to 113 this year in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Lightning has killed 113 Cambodians so far this year, making 2009 one of the worst years on record for lightning deaths, local media reported on Wednesday, citing four more people have been killed by lightning since Saturday.

Kompong Thorn provincial officials reported that a 16-year-old boy living in Prasat Sambor district was struck by lightning as he walked through a rice field on Tuesday. In Battambang province's Thma Koul district, Hun Chhomm, 57, was killed as he walked home from his rice field on Sunday. And two men were killed in Prey Veng province over the weekend.

Keo Vy, deputy public relation director for the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), was quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying that the committee is concerned about the number of lightning deaths this year, especially since they are already above the 93 people reported killed by lightning in all of2008, and well above the 45 reported killed in 2007.

"This year lightning has killed more than 100 people, but it is more usual for lightning to kill around 40 people per year," said Nhim Vanda, first vice chairman of the NCDM, adding that nobody knows why there have been so many more deaths this year. However, he speculated that climate change could be a factor.

Nhim Vanda said that his officials have tried to educate the public on how to protect themselves from lightning strikes during storms.

Seth Vannareth, meteorology director at the Ministry of Water Resources, agreed that lightning deaths have been unusually high this year and said that the government is planning on holding a series of lightning prevention workshops next year that will "teach people how to escape from lightning, how to protect themselves."