The lightning killed 16 people who were traveling on a river to go to a wedding in Bangladesh, authorities said, AFP and DPA reported.
Five others were injured and taken to hospital.
The guests had just disembarked from a boat in the town of Shibganj, near the border with India and 250 kilometers from the capital Dhaka.
They wanted to hide from a storm in the western region of Chapainavabganj when they were struck by lightning, said the city’s governor Sakib Al Rabi.
There were at least 20 people in the open boat sailing on the Padma River, DPA clarifies. The groom was among those struck by lightning. It is not specified whether he survived. The bride was not among the passengers in the boat.
Heavy monsoon thunderstorms recently erupted in Bangladesh, and a week-long torrential rain in the southeastern Cox’s Bazar region killed about 20 people, including six Rohingya refugees.
Hundreds of people are struck by lightning in Bangladesh every year.
According to official data, in 2016, lightning killed more than 200 people, 82 of whom in just one day in May, but most of the victims are not included in the statistics.
According to an independent body, 349 people were killed by lightning this year.
Some experts believe that the cause of the growing number of deaths is deforestation. In an effort to limit the effects of climate change and the death toll from lightning strikes, the South Asian country has planted hundreds of thousands of palm trees.
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