A construction worker was struck dead and six others were injured on Sunday in Oddar Meanchey’s Anglong Veng district, marking the second death by lightning in the area in the past three months, a commune police chief said.

Hing Thoeng, Prey commune police chief, said 30-year-old Van Voeuth was among a group of seven who ran for cover during a storm.

“The victim was playing with his phone under a tree when suddenly the lightning struck him,” Thoeng said, adding that Voeuth was killed instantly.

On April 23, in the same commune, 16-year-old Suos Saran was struck by lightning and killed after he and his parents took shelter in a hut during a storm, Thoeng said.

According to Keo Vy, spokesman for the National Committee for Disaster Management, a total of 52 people have been killed and 73 injured by lightning this year.

In the first five months of last year, a total of 69 deaths from lightning were recorded, he added.