15 Killed in UP Dust Storm 

Lucknow: At least 15 persons lost their lives while nine were injured in a dust storm that swept various parts of Uttar Pradesh on Friday. A UP government spokesperson on Saturday said that most of the deaths were caused due to falling of trees and house collapse.

Moradabad bore the brunt of the storm, with as many as seven deaths reported from the district, followed by three deaths from Sambhal, the state government spokesman said.

Two deaths were reported each from Muzaffarnagar and Meerut, while one death was reported from Amroha. Four persons were injured in Amroha, three in Moradabad and two in Muzaffarnagar, spokesperson said.

The state government has directed all district magistrates to distribute relief within 24 hours. The state was swept by three major dust storms last month that left over 130 people dead.

On May 13, 39 people died in various districts including Bareilly, Barabanki, Bulandshahr and Lakhimpur Khiri districts. On May 9, a severe storm left 18 dead and 27 others injured. Five people died in Etawah district, three each in Mathura, Aligarh and Agra, two in Firozabad and one each in Hathras and Kanpur Dehat.

Thunderstorms and lightning on May 2-3 left 80 dead in the state, most of them in Agra district in the western part of the state.

PTI