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Mamun lost 16 of his relatives after they were struck by lightning on the day of his wedding

By Rajini Vaidyanathan

Reporting from Bangladesh

On the day he thought he'd be celebrating his wedding, Mamun buried 16 of his relatives.

They had been killed by lightning on the way to the ceremony.

Dressed in their finest saris and suits, his family members boarded a boat to join Mamun, when a heavy storm struck. As the rain lashed down the boat pulled over and they took shelter under a tin shed on the riverbank, when they were hit.

Bangladesh, which is blighted by extreme weather and heavy storms, suffers an average of 300 deaths by lightning every year, according to the UN.

That's compared with fewer than 20 annually in the United States, which has almost double the population.

It's a heavy burden for the South Asian nation, and for many like Mamun, who is speaking for the first time about what happened on that day in August 2021.

The 21-year-old was getting ready at his in-laws' home in the Shibganj area in the country's north-west, when he heard the crackle of thunder, minutes before he got the gut-wrenching news.