Bangladesh has begun planting one million palm trees nationwide to help prevent hundreds of people being killed by lightning strikes every year, a top official said Tuesday. Authorities last year declared lightning a natural disaster as official tallies recorded more than 200 deaths in 2016, with 82 people dying on a single day in May. Experts say the real number was actually much higher, with one independent monitor saying 349 people were killed by lightning strikes in 2016.
