A lightning strike led to the death of a 29-year-old man in Banteay Meanchey province on Tuesday, a commune police chief has said.

As it started to rain in the afternoon, Lay Lot, a farmer from Phoum Thmey commune in Thma Puok district, sought shelter and some rest under a tree near the rice field he was ploughing.

Sok Vet, Phoum Thmey commune police chief, said Lot had been hired to plough the field, located about 700 metres from his village.

When Lot and other villagers were under the tree, lightning struck it, killing Lot, who was leaning against the trunk. Whether the farmer was electrocuted by the strike or died from shock, the police chief couldn’t say. The others weren’t injured.

Keo Vy, chief of the cabinet at the National Committee for Disaster Management, said yesterday that the death pushed the number of lightning fatalities this year to 30.

For the same period in 2013, 35 people died.