Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images
- A lightning strike reportedly killed 11 people at a popular watchtower in India Sunday.
- Some of the dead had been taking selfies and included children, officials said.
- The incident occurred at the watchtower of the 12th century Amber fort in the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan.
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A lightning strike reportedly killed 11 people, including some who had been taking selfies, at a popular watchtower in India Sunday.
The incident occurred at the watchtower of the 12th century Amber fort in the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan near the state capital of Jaipur, officials said.
"As it started raining visitors took cover at a watchtower near the fort. Lightning struck the watchtower killing 11 people on the spot and injuring others," a local police officer who only identified himself as Jairam told Reuters on Monday.
Most of the dead were local tourists, the officer added. Children were among the fatal victims.
Some of the victims were taking selfies near the watchtower at the time, senior police officer Anand Srivastava said, according to CBS News.
ishal Bhatnagar/Associated Press
Shankar Lal Saini, a senior disaster management official in Jaipur, told CNN that when the lightning struck at around 6:30 p.m. local time, "the tower's wall collapsed."
"[M]any people were buried under it," Saini said. "Since the fort is on a hill, when the debris was falling and space reduced, some people also fell into a ditch."
A rescue operation was carried out until 7 a.m. Monday, according to Saini.
Women and children were among the 11 bodies recovered, the official said.
Another 11 people were rescued following the incident and were in stable condition, according to Saini, who noted that locals, along with tourists, were at the fort at the time the lightning struck.
"Because it is a hilly area and there are a lot of trees the rescue teams kept looking till morning in case anyone is left behind but now all people have been accounted for," Saini told CNN.
Vishal Bhatnagar/Associated Press
Meanwhile, there were multiple reports of deaths from lightning strikes across other parts of India Sunday.
According to CBS News, Srivastava said at least nine more people were killed and nearly 20 others were wounded in separate lightning strikes amid thunderstorms and torrential rains.
Additionally, 18 people were killed as a result of lightning strikes on Sunday in the state of Uttar Pradesh, CBS News reported, citing Manoj Dixit, a government official.
Lightning strikes kill an average of 2,000 citizens in India annually, the BCC reported, citing official data.
