結婚パーティーに落雷、１６人死亡　花婿負傷　バングラ

【ダッカＡＦＰ＝時事】バングラデシュで４日、結婚パーティーの会場に連続して雷が落ち、１６人が死亡、花婿が負傷した。（写真は資料写真）
　当局者はＡＦＰに対し、西部チャパイナワブガンジで数秒間に次々と稲妻が走り、１６人が死亡したと述べた。花嫁はパーティー会場にいなかったという。
　バングラデシュでは毎年、数百人が落雷で死亡している。
　公式統計によると、２０１６年には２００人以上が死亡。５月には１日で８２人が亡くなる日もあった。ただし、統計に含まれていない死者も多く、ある独立機関のデータでは死者は少なくとも３４９人に上る。
　専門家の一部は、森林伐採により落雷での死者が増えていると指摘する。バングラデシュでは気候変動の影響を緩和し、落雷での死者を減らすために多数のヤシの木が植えられている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/08/05-12:05）

Several lightning bolts hit a Bangladesh wedding party within a few seconds Wednesday, killing 16 people and injuring the groom, officials said.
The group had just left a boat at the riverside town of Shibganj to take shelter from the thunderstorm when the lightning struck, a government administrator for the town said.
The bride was not with the wedding party, Sakib Al-Rabby told AFP, confirming 16 people died as several bolts struck within a few seconds of each other in the western district of Chapainawabganj.
Fierce monsoon storms have battered Bangladesh. A week of torrential rains in the southeastern district of Cox's Bazar left some 20 dead, including six Rohingya refugees.
Lightning kills hundreds of people in the South Asian nation each year.
According to an official tally, there were more than 200 lightning deaths in 2016, with 82 people dying on a single day in May. Many deaths are never officially recorded, however, and one independent monitor counted at least 349 deaths from lightning strikes.
Some experts say deforestation has increased the death toll with Bangladesh planting hundreds of thousands of palm trees in a bid to ease the impact of climate change and reduce the number of lightning deaths.