A lightning strike has killed more than 300 wild reindeer in Norway, in what officials described as an unusually large natural disaster.

Aerial footage shows reindeer carcasses scattered across a small area on the Hardangervidda mountain plateau.

The footage was released by the Norwegian Environment Agency, which said 323 animals were killed, including 70 calves.

Agency spokesman Kjartan Knutsen said it is not uncommon for reindeer or other wildlife to be killed by lightning strikes, "but we have not heard about such numbers before."

Image: Aerial footage shows the scale of the destruction

He said reindeer tend to stay very close to each other in bad weather, which could explain how so many were killed at once during Friday's storm.


Thousands of reindeer migrate across the barren Hardangervidda plateau as the seasons change.

It is the second time this month that a large group of animals has been killed by lightning.

On 25 August, 38 sheep died after they were hit by lightning in the Indian district of Kanchipuram.