Three were killed in two lightning strikes on Monday in Kampong Cham and Takeo provinces, bringing the death toll this year to 24 so far, officials said yesterday.

Dambe district police chief Thorn Reth, said two teenage girls were killed on Monday afternoon while the pair were planting cassava during a thunder­storm.

This is the third death in Dambe district in as many months, Reth said. Earlier this year, a 13-year-old boy was killed and two others injured while playing football in the rain. In a separate incident, a 52-year-old farmer was killed in Takeo’s Samrong district.

Deputy district police chief Khun Yan said the man had left his house to collect rainwater. “It is the dry season, when villagers do not have much water to use, so the victim collected rainwater and unfortunately the lightning struck and killed him outright,” Yan said, adding that the man left behind six children and a wife.