One person was killed and another five injured when lightning struck a house during a storm in Oddar Meanchey province’s Samroang district on Tuesday afternoon, an official said yesterday.

Provincial Hall spokesman Chea Piseth said that victim Soeu Piseth, 13, of Samroang’s Bossov commune, was fatally struck by lightning while reading a book in his home, while the other five victims were injured to varying degrees of severity when the force of the strike caused a wall and the roof to collapse.

“[The injured victims] were sent to Anlong Veng District Referral Hospital,” he said.

The violent storm also damaged 81 homes, three schools, a commune meeting hall and crops, according to Piseth, who said repair work on the homes is 80 per cent complete.

“Tomorrow, our authorities will continue repairing and rebuilding for people until we achieve it 100 per cent,” he continued.

Tuesday’s storm was the 10th to hit the province since January 1. Previous storms had already killed one villager and injured 12, as well as damaged 293 homes, a monastery, commune halls, a rice granary, the Anlong Veng district hospital and three school buildings, according to Piseth.

In Svay Rieng province on Tuesday, lightning killed six cows and damaged two houses in Prey Sras village, located in Romeas Hek district’s Sambat Meanchey commune, according to district police chief Om Sam Ol.