Agra/Meerut/Bareilly: Lightning strikes killed at least 12 people, including four school children, on Thursday across Uttar Pradesh which saw another spell of freak weather. Most parts of the state were lashed by rain and hail after a brief hiatus, leading to a significant dip in the temperature. Apart from human lives, hailstorm also damaged standing crops in several regions.In Kasganj’s Soro area, at least 35 school children had a narrow escape when the roof and walls of their government school building cracked due to a massive lightning bolt. They were evacuated to safety, and later sent home.Western UP bore the maximum brunt as 10 persons were killed in lightning strikes in the area. Four of them were school children.In remote villages of Agra and Firozabad districts, lightning killed three, including two teenage siblings. Roshni (12) and her younger brother Suraj (6) died on the spot in Agra’s Vikrampur village. They were returning from a farm field along with their father Ram Niwas when the tragedy struck. The father survived as he couldn’t keep pace with young.In another thunder strike, a 55-year-old man-- father to five children -- was killed in Fariha area of Firozabad in Agra zone. Pramod Kumar was working in a field.According to Meteorological department, Agra and neighbouring districts will experience cloudy weather and spells of rain in the next two days.In Meerut zone, three persons were killed due to lightning. Among them, two including a woman died in Hapur. In Bijnor, a 50-year-old farmer was killed after lightning struck him.While another four persons were killed in west UP’s Bareilly and Moradabad divisions.In Bareilly district’s Aonla area, two school-going cousins were killed in a lightning strike. Omkar and Narendra, both 12 years old, died on the spot. While 28-year-old farmer Ajit Singh died in neighbouring Sambhal district.The fourth person to be killed in Bareilly division was a 64-year-old farmer in Jalalabad block in Shahjahanpur.While two deaths were reported from Jalaun and Banda districts.According to sources, the damage to crops was also widespread. Speaking with TOI, Mohan Singh Chahar, leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union Agra unit, claimed, “The hailstorm has damaged the crops of mustard, pea, fennel, wheat and potato. In Etah’s Awagadh block, at least 40% of crops of mustard, pea and fennel got damaged. In Kasganj’s Amapur block, 30% of mustard crop has been damaged. While in Firozabad’s Narkhi block crop of chilli was damaged.”

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