Kolkata: The nor'wester that lashed eight districts of West Bengal on March 12 night claimed at least 15 lives and injured over 500 in Hoogly and Bankura districts, causing large scale damage to crops.

Nine persons were killed and 20 others injured when a big tree fell on a trekker near Alipur Primary School in Chanditala police station area of Hoogly district, police said.

Of the 20 injured, admitted to Chanditala and Uttarpara hospitals, condition of some were serious.

Four others lost their lives in lightning in Chanditala, police said.

In Bankura, two deaths were caused by lightning at Bishnupur and Jaypur areas during the storm. Around 500 persons were injured in the district in accompanying hailstorm and admitted to different hospitals, police said.

Three persons, including a British national, were injured at the N S C Bose international airport when an iron shed was blown apart in the storm and fell on them outside the domestic terminal building, airport sources said.

Electric cables snapped by the season storm fell on a rickshaw puller, electrocuting him at Sapuipara in Howrah district, police said.

In Howrah, North 24 Parganas, Bankura and Barddhaman districts, rain continued in many parts of the districts till the wee hours of March 13.

The storm, having a wind speed of 80 kms per hour, left a trail of devastation uprooting trees, electric poles, telephone posts and flattening innumerable mud houses in rural areas of the districts. It caused damage to crops and affected flowering of mangoes.

Train services on the Howrah and Sealdah divisions were affected in the storm, which also delayed departure of two Air Sahara flights and forced one Sahara flight to return after taking off for Guwahati.

PTI