Lightning kills 18, including six kids

AT least 18 people including six children were killed after they were struck by lightning in the east Indian state of Bihar, officials say.
Around 30 people were struck overnight by bolts of lightning across Bihar, and those that were injured were receiving treatment in hospital, State Disaster Management Minister Devesh Chand Thakur said today.
"The children were playing in the pre-monsoon showers when lightning struck them,'' Mr Thakur said from the state capital Patna.
Torrential rains accompanied by strong winds uprooted trees, damaged houses and brought down power cables across the impoverished state last night, he said.