In the most recent incident, two people were killed and two injured in the village of Ganhe when lightning struck their home, the Xinhua news agency said.

A farmer working in the fields in Pingtang county was also killed in a sudden thunderstorm, as shocked witnesses described how the lightning tore his clothes to rags, according to the agency.

Guizhou has more than the average share of thunderbolt deaths, because people in the area are too poor to install lightning conductors, Xinhua said.

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