Lightning killed at least 26 persons across five Bengal districts — Hooghly, Murshidabad, Bankura, East and West Midnapore — on Monday.

A state government official said 11 persons died in Hooghly, nine in Murshidabad, as well as two each in West Midnapore, East Midnapore and Bankura.

The official could not recall the last time so many had died of lightning on a single day. Most were farmers working in the fields, he added.

Six farmers were killed and eight others injured in a field at Nowda village in Murshidabad’s Raghunathganj.

Police said the deceased were Sainul Sheikh, 25, Surja Karmakar, 23, Sunil Das, 35, Durjadhan Das, 32, Jalauddin Sheikh, 28, and Mazharul Sheikh, 17, all from Nowda.

Elsewhere in the district, Abhijit Biswas, 42, Prahlad Murari, 40, and Enamul Sheikh, 46, were killed by bolts. Murari and Biswas were working in an under-construction home, Sheikh was in a field.

In Hooghly, 11 persons, including two women, were killed by lightning. Farmer Hemanta Guchai, 42, and his wife Malabika, 38, were killed while returning home from a field in Balipur village in Hooghly’s Khanakul. Ananda Roy, 40, of Goghat, Sishir Adhikari, 68, and Kanai Lahari, 79, died elsewhere in Khanakul. Kiron Roy, 27, died in Nabagram.

Farmer Harun Rashid, 46, was killed in Hooghly’s Mahanad. Others who died were Dilip Ghosh, 50, of Haripal, Susmita Koley, 39, of Singur, Sanjib Samanta, 43, of Champadanga and Shailya Malik, 42, of Pachgachhia.

In Bankura’s Ranibandh, lightning struck dead Basudev Mahata, 40, and Krishnapada Hansda, 63.

In East Midnapore, Shampa Mondol, 25, of Moyna, and Gourango Majhi, 24, of Panskura were killed.

The state government has asked the administration in districts to start awareness campaigns on lightning. PM Narendra Modi has approved Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of each of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for each injured.