LIGHTNING
A 14-year-old boy from Battambang was struck and killed by lightning in Sangke district on Tuesday afternoon as he was walking to tend to his parents' rice field with his three siblings, local authorities said yesterday.

Ran Saroeut, O'Dambang II commune police chief, identified the victim as Chhoem Phearun, from Tuol Lvieng village. "At the site, we found the boy's body with burn marks, and his hair was burned as well. The body was [laying] on its chest in the rice field," he said.

The death is the 48th this year, as of yesterday, said Keo Vy, spokesman for the National Committee for Disaster Management.

Of those victims, 14 were women. Forty-nine people have suffered nonfatal injuries from lightning strikes, while 50 head of cattle have been killed.

He urged caution as lightning will only increase up to the end of the rainy season in early November.

According to National Committee for Disaster Management statistics, as of the end of May, weather-related deaths and injuries were down from last year, with 43 deaths and 79 injuries, compared to 47 deaths and 154 injuries during the same period in 2016.