Seven people have been killed by lightning in northern India, bringing the total death toll to 49 this week.

All those who have died were in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is currently in its monsoon season.

The most recent seven deaths were mainly village farmers, who were sheltering under trees during a downpour. Four were from the same family, according to police in the nearby city of Kaushambi.

So far this season, more people have died from lightning strikes than rain-related incidents like flooding.

In the wake of the deaths, the government issued new guidelines for the storms.

Spokesperson Shishir Singh said: “People are dying more from lightning than rain-related incidents, though this is the time when people (typically) die of floods or other rain-related incidents.”

Colonel Sanjay Srivastava from the Indian Meteorological Department said almost 750 people in India have been killed by lightning since April.

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Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment, said global warming was influencing the number of strikes.

Some studies have predicted a rise in temperatures by one degree would increase the number of strikes by 12%.

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And J P Gupta, director of the Meteorological Department, said thunderstorms and lightning have increased this year due to an increase in pollution levels.

He said: “High ground temperature leads to evaporation from water bodies that adds moisture to the atmosphere.

“The presence of aerosols due to air pollution creates favourable conditions for thunderclouds to trigger lightning activity.”

More than 200 people have been killed in rains and mudslides in India, and 42 in Bangladesh, since 17 May, while hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced.

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