A lightning strike in Norway has killed more than 300 reindeer, according to reports from local media.
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The incident happened on the Hardangervidda mountain plateau.
Game wardens had so far counted 322 dead reindeer, Knut Nylend, spokesman for the Norwegian Nature Inspectorate, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK on Sunday.
While park officials said it was not unusual for the occasional animal to be struck by lightning, the magnitude of Friday’s incident was nearly unprecedented.
The agency says Friday 323 creatures were killed, including 70 calves, in the lightning storm. “The animals stay close together in bad weather and these ones were hit by lightning”, an official from the Norwegian Environment Agency, Kjartan Knutsen, told AFP. Thousands of reindeer migrate across the barren Hardanangervidda tableland as the seasons change.
The Hardangervidda national park is a popular tourist attraction, known for its natural beauty and the largest herd of wild reindeer in Europe.
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The deadliest lightning strike involving human beings caused a Peruvian airline to crash into the Amazon – killing 91 people in 1971.
