7 killed in lightning strikes in India

At least seven people, including a child, were killed by lightning in India's eastern coastal state of Odisha, an official said Thursday. Four people died in the Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada districts as lightning and thunderstorms struck, the Indo-Asian News Service reported. In the port town of Paradip, three laborers were killed by lightning Wednesday, an official said. The high winds damaged about 300 thatched homes, while falling trees seriously injured a woman, the Times of India reported. "Some schools and cyclone shelters are jam-packed with women and children who fled their villages fearing a cyclone," a district official said.