Two tornadoes that struck central and eastern China killed at least 12 people and injured more than 400, authorities said Saturday.

Violent winds of more than 260 kilometres per hour (160 miles per hour) blasted the central city of Wuhan on Friday night.

Eight people died and more than 280 were injured there, authorities said, adding that around 30 homes had collapsed.

Vehicles were crushed by falling objects, trees uprooted, buildings partially destroyed and electricity pylons felled, leaving more than 26,000 homes without power.

The gale damaged two construction cranes, one of which toppled onto the site below, causing significant damage.

In Suzhou, near Shanghai, another tornado with winds of more than 200 kilometres per hour wreaked havoc.

Four people were killed and one remains missing, according to local authorities.

Images shared on social media showed a black whirlwind which left a trail of destruction.

In May, a windstorm caused the deaths of 11 people in a different town also close to Shanghai.

Kazakhstan says 350 rare antelopes killed by lightning
Almaty, Kazakhstan (AFP) May 14, 2021 - Kazakhstan said Friday that around 350 critically endangered Saiga antelopes had been killed, probably by lightning, after villagers found their bodies in steppe land in the west of the country.

The discovery came during calving season for the Saiga, which is known for its distinctive bulbous nose.

The Kazakh ecological ministry said in a statement that lightning was the probable cause of their deaths "as there are traces of lightning strikes on the carcasses."

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), whose "Red List" is the scientific reference for threatened wildlife, lists the Saiga as among five critically endangered antelope species, with a population of around 124,000 adults.

Kazakhstan is home to the vast majority of the animals, with Russia's Kalmykia region and Mongolia hosting much smaller populations.

In 2015, around 200,000 of the antelopes -- well over half the total global population at the time -- were wiped out by what scientists later determined was a nasal bacterium that spread in unusually warm and humid conditions.

In an aerial survey in 2019, Kazakhstan said its Saiga population was estimated at more than 330,000 individuals.

Poaching is a persistent threat, fuelled by demand for horn in traditional Chinese medicine. Kazakhstan's leaders pledged to crack down on the crime after two state rangers were killed by poachers in 2019.

India probes death of 18 elephants 'hit by lightning'
Nagaon, India (AFP) May 14, 2021 - Indian authorities launched a probe Friday into the deaths of at least 18 elephants, as a leading conservationist raised doubts that the animals were killed by lightning.

The dead herd was found in the hilly Kandali Proposed Reserve Forest in the northeastern India state of Assam on Thursday.

Forest officials and a local lawmaker, Jitu Goswami, told AFP they believed the elephants died after lightning struck the forest.

But prominent conservationist Soumyadeep Datta, from environmental activist group Nature's Beckon, said that was unlikely based on social media images.

"Poisoning could be behind the death of the elephants," Datta told AFP. "We have to wait for the autopsy report, which the forest department will do soon."

A team of vets and officials headed to the site on Friday together with Parimal Shuklabaidya, Assam's forests and environment minister.

India is home to nearly 30,000 elephants, around 60 percent of the wild Asian elephant population.

In recent years there have been rising incidents of elephants killed by locals -- and vice-versa -- as humans encroach further into forest areas.

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