KARACHI: Health emergency has been imposed in hospitals of Pakistan's Sindh province as death toll from lightning strike reached 25 on Friday.

“Health facilities are put on high alert with all provisions, including availability of doctors, paramedics, medicines and ambulances,” said a statement issued by the district health officer in Mithi.

Authorities in Pakistan’s desert areas of Tharparkar district, which is situated about 390 kilometers away from Karachi, imposed 24-hour emergency after reports of at least 23 people killed, including women and children, came in from different villages on Wednesday night.

“The cattle growers and farmers were out in the fields when sudden lightning hit them late Wednesday evening,” Allah Dad, a local farmer at Chachro village, told Arab News.

“Continuous rains and lighting have killed many people while leaving hundreds of cattle dead,” Dad informed.

Local activists have prepared a list of casualties resulting from the 36-hour long heavy downpour, said Abdul Ghani Pajeer, a resident of Islamkot.

“Teams have been deputed in the field to confirm any rise in death toll on the basis of circumstantial evidence if the victim have been buried,” Irshad Memon, district health officer told Arab News. “However, a final figure of casualties will be shared in the next 24 hours,” he said.

Chachro sub-division is the worst hit area of Tharparkar, which received severe lightning for the first time, Memon said.

Tharparkar is the largest desert district of Sindh province with 1.65 million people spread over 22,000 square feet km making it difficult to reach every village immediately, said Memon.

“We have five hospitals among 48 different health centers, all doctors and paramedics are on duty. We are regularly monitoring the situation,” he said.

Tharparkar, a Pakistani desert district along India-Pakistan border has the lowest Human Development Index of all the districts in southern province. The district has a fertile desert where the livelihood of the people depends on rainfall agriculture. The district, however, is mostly in the news for its severe drought and children’s death due to malnutrition.