Storm in West Bengal and Bihar leaves 60 dead

Raigunj/Purnia/Kishangunj, Apr 14 (PTI) At least 60
people were killed and over two hundred injured when a severe
storm with a windspeed of 125 kmph ripped through North
Dinajpur district in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal
and four neighbouring districts of Bihar state.
Thirty-one people were killed and one hundred injured
when the storm tore through four blocks of North Dinajpur
district at midnight Tuesday night, official sources said.
North Dinajpur Additional District Magistrate P K
Dutta said 18 deaths occurred in Karandighi block and eight in
Raiganj, while three people were also killed at Hemtabad and
two others at Kaliaganj.
Over 100 persons who were injured have been
hospitalised.
West Bengal Civil Defence Minister Srikumar Mukherjee
said that the storm had a windspeed of 125 kmph.
Around 50,000 dwellings were destroyed rendering
hundreds of people homeless in the district while the police
barracks in Raiganj was razed.
Reports from Araria and Purnia in Bihar, quoting
official sources, said at least 29 people were killed and 125
injured in several blocks in four districts of Kishanganj,
Araria, Supaul and Purnia bordering West Bengal.
Araria alone accounted for 19 deaths, while six
persons died in Purnia and two each in Supaul and Kishanganj
districts, officials said. (More) PTI