NEW DELHI, July 7 (Xinhua) -- At least four persons have been killed and six others injured by lightning strikes in the eastern Indian state of Odisha Friday, a senior police official said.
"Three farmers died in lightning strikes while they were working on an agricultural land in Tikarapada village in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district. Another farmer was killed in Raghunathganj village in Baripada town," he said, on condition of anonymity.
The six injured included three children who sustained burns when lightning struck a health center in Tikapada village in Mayurbhanj district, the official said, adding that they have been admitted to a local hospital.
Odisha has been receiving heavy monsoon rains for the past few days.
Lightning strikes are common in India during heavy monsoon rains. Some 2,000 people have died in lightning strikes in India every year since 2005, according to National Crime Records Bureau.
India receives 80 percent of its annual rainfall during the monsoon season, which runs between June and September.
