Dust storm kills 17, injures 11 in Uttar Pradesh; deaths caused due to collapse of houses and trees

[caption id=“attachment_4492695” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh was hit by another deadly dust storm that claimed 17 lives and left 11 persons injured on Friday. An Uttar Pradesh government spokesperson Saturday said that most of the deaths were caused due to falling trees and the collapse of houses in the areas. Moradabad bore the brunt of the storm, with as many as seven deaths reported from the district, followed by three deaths from Sambhal, the spokesperson 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, according to the same source. The state government has directed all district magistrates to distribute relief within 24 hours. Uttar Pradesh was swept by three major dust storms last month that left over 130 people dead. On 13 May, 39 people died in various districts including Bareilly, Barabanki, Bulandshahr and Lakhimpur Khiri districts. On 9 May, 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 2-3 May left 80 dead in the state, most of them in the Agra district in the western part of the state.