BEIJING -- Lightning strikes have killed 282 Chinese so far this year, the
China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said on Friday.
The CMA earlier reported 193 deaths between January 1 and June 25 which means
nearly 100 people have died in less than four weeks.
Chen Yu, a senior engineer with the CMA's National Climate Center, said the
death toll caused by lightning in the first half of the year was 252, 109 more
than last year.
In June, east China's Jiangxi Province topped all Chinese provinces in terms
of number of deaths from lightning strikes with 57.
Meanwhile, 671 people died in meteorological disasters, which incurred direct
economic losses of 52.69 billion yuan (6.96 billion U.S. dollars).
