A 49-year-old amputee died after lightning struck her in Pursat’s Phnom Kravanh district on Monday.

Meas Sareth, deputy police chief of Phnom Kravanh district, said that the victim, In Thea, was the mother of four sons and three daughters.

All of her children were under 15 years old.

She was married to another amputee, who had lost a leg due to stepping on a landmine left over from the civil war – the same way Thea had lost her two legs.

“It is a huge tragedy for this poor family, as they have many children,” Sareth said.

Lightning has proved a deadly natural disaster over the past several years, with hundreds of people dying after being struck while in open fields.

The government has launched education campaigns in order to reduce the risk.

But the problem shows little signs of abating and authorities have said they’re unable to buy lightning rods en masse due to the exorbitant cost.  

Keo Vy, deputy director of the National Committee for Disaster Management’s Press and Communication Department, said yesterday that during the first 10 months of the year, lightning strikes killed 100 people while 70 were injured.

Lightning also killed 32 cattle and destroyed five homes in that period.

In 2011, a total of 165 people were killed and 139 injured by lightning.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Yuthana at [email protected]