With the rainy season upon us and our neighbouring countries, we have been showered with not just rain but also floods and thunderstorms in the past week.
On 24 November, a 16-year-old boy in Indonesia died after being struck by lightning.
According to Kompas.com, the boy who was still schooling in a secondary school located in Kabupaten Grobogan, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia.
When contacted, the police chief of the county, Jury Leonard Siahaan said that the incident happened in the evening of 24 November at about 4pm. The boy went to the coffee shop with his friends and they were playing online games together on their phones.
At about 5.30pm, it was raining heavily and the group was still playing games on their phone, the deceased was charging his phone at the same time.
A few moments later, lightning struck the 16-year-old and he was thrown off the chair. His friends and the coffee shop owner wanted to help him but they saw that he was burned badly and was already unconscious.
It was reported that he passed away on the spot.
According to It Still Works, the usage of mobile phones that are plugged into a charger during thunderstorms is dangerous as it provides a conductive path for the lightning bolt to follow from the location it originally strikes to your body.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the boy’s family.
Also read: M’sian Woman Injured After Charging Mobile Phone She Was Using Exploded During Thunderstorm
