Two Australians Among 5 Killed, 3 Injured By Lightning

[cloudhopper]

remove metal and jewelry since metal is an attractant

NEVER use a cell phone, turn it off ASAP.

Like dialing for a lightning strike at your head.

Add a cellphone under it and the rish goes up exponentially.

Although the bulk of the posted advice is good, I'm afraid these bits are not particularly helpful. I would be very interested to know the postulated mechanism by which cell phones or jewelry "attracts" lightning, and by what exponent the "risk" rises. The only thing that "attracts" a lightning strike is the lowest resistance path to ground.

[sriracha john]

Tributes have flowed for 19-year-old trainee youth worker Thomas McGuinness, who died with four others after being struck by lightning in Thailand on Saturday.

Mt Pleasant Uniting Church youth pastor Randy Salmond yesterday described his friend and colleague Mr McGuinness as a drag racing, Led Zeppelin loving Christian who had devoted his life to helping others.

“He was a life-loving guy,” Mr Salmond said. “It rubbed off on all the people around him.”

Nicknamed “Smiley” by friends because of his grin and exuberant spirit, Mr McGuinness had travelled to Thailand as part of his training to become a youth worker with the Mt Pleasant church.

He was part of a group of 12 Year 11 students and three teachers from Winthrop Baptist College who were sheltering from a storm under a tree 640km north-east of Bangkok when the group was hit by lightning.

Three Thai girls aged 14 to 17 and social studies teacher Greg Crombie were killed instantly. Mr McGuinness died in hospital on Sunday.

The group was one week into a three-week trip to teach English to Thai students and help at an orphanage, a leper colony and a Buddhist temple.

Pastor Salmond said Mr McGuinness decided to become a youth worker after spending two months in Mongolia doing missionary work last year.

“He had decided to commit his life to that sort of work, to helping other people and making other people aware of the needs of others,” he said.

Mr McGuinness’ profile page on social networking site Facebook was yesterday plastered with emotional farewells and tributes from friends and loved ones.

The outpouring of grief for Perth father of four Mr Crombie also continued yesterday, as colleagues, family members and students past and present left heart-wrenching tributes on his Facebook site and his pregnant wife Caroline spoke about her grief at his loss.

“I almost feel worse for our little boy who is almost 18 months who won’t know his dad,” she said. “But there are so many people who know Greg and there are so many stories to tell and I want them to know what an amazing man their dad was. He was always really passionate about the kids and what they could do.

“That’s what he was doing in Thailand. He just thought there was so much these kids need to know about how the world lives and about what’s really important in life.”

Winthrop Baptist College board chairman Rod White said one of three students injured during the lightning strike at Tad-Ton waterfall near the town of Nong Sung remained under observation at Bangkok hospital yesterday. He said the rest of the group, now accompanied by college principal Peter Burton and a school counsellor, were expected back in Perth before the end of the week.

Mr White said the mother of the student in hospital was travelling to Bangkok and the pair would fly back to Perth when the student was fit to travel.

- The West Australian / 2008-09-30

[zzdocxx]

Personal Lightning Safety Tips

1. PLAN in advance your evacuation and safety measures. When you first see lightning or hear thunder, activate your emergency plan. Now is the time to go to a building or a vehicle. Lightning often precedes rain, so don't wait for the rain to begin before suspending activities.

2. IF OUTDOORS...Avoid water. Avoid the high ground. Avoid open spaces. Avoid all metal objects including electric wires, fences, machinery, motors, power tools, etc. Unsafe places include underneath canopies, small picnic or rain shelters, or near trees. Where possible, find shelter in a substantial building or in a fully enclosed metal vehicle such as a car, truck or a van with the windows completely shut. If lightning is striking nearby when you are outside, you should:

A. Crouch down. Put feet together. Place hands over ears to minimize hearing damage from thunder.

B. Avoid proximity (minimum of 15 ft.) to other people.

3. IF INDOORS... Avoid water. Stay away from doors and windows. Do not use the telephone. Take off head sets. Turn off, unplug, and stay away from appliances, computers, power tools, & TV sets. Lightning may strike exterior electric and phone lines, inducing shocks to inside equipment.

4. SUSPEND ACTIVITIES for 30 minutes after the last observed lightning or thunder.

5. INJURED PERSONS do not carry an electrical charge and can be handled safely. Apply First Aid procedures to a lightning victim if you are qualified to do so. Call 911 or send for help immediately.

6. KNOW YOUR EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBERS.

Teach this safety slogan:

"If you can see it, flee it; if you can hear it, clear it."

Please reprint & distribute.

Prepared by the

National Lightning Safety Institute, Louisville, CO.

[sriracha john]

Students from Thai lightning tragedy re-united with parents

The students who were caught up in a fatal electrical storm while on a cultural exchange trip in Thailand were re-united with their parents at Perth Airport this morning.

Eleven of the children from the group were met by parents on the airport tarmac and whisked away in two buses.

Winthrop Baptist College principal Peter Burton said most of the children had sustained injuries, including burns and memory loss, during the lightning blast which killed social studies teacher Greg Crombie, youth worker Thomas McGuinness, and three local Thai girls, aged 14 to 17 on Saturday.

One of the group of 12 students who is suffering from an irregular heartbeat remains under observation in Bangkok Hospital today. She is expected to return to Perth, accompanied by her mother, within the next few days.

Mr Burton said some of the children were struggling to cope psychologically with the tragedy they had witnessed. He said it had been a fine, sunny day when the group had set out for a planned trip to Tad Ton waterfalls, 640km north-east of Bangkok.

“It was a fine, sunny day, but when it started to rain the team took cover in a shelter,” Mr Burton said. “The lightning hit the shelter and then ran along the ground.

“It hit a large number of the team to varying degrees. Both staff and students tried to resuscitate Greg, Thomas, and the children, before taking them to the local hospital.

Mr Burton commended the two Winthrop staff and the students for their bravery and quick thinking. He said the students would continue to receive counselling.

It is understood the bodies of Mr Crombie and Mr McGuinness would be repatriated later this week.

- The West Australian / 2008-10-01

[animatic]

Sad report.

If it's true the reported use of a cell phone at the time is very sad.

It creates a magnetic attraction, made worse by the large expanse of flat water.

Lightning charges look for any way to go from ground to sky and back.

A 3w radio signal is a perfect transmission corridor.

Understand electrical theory and reality before venturing a statement like this.

remove metal and jewelry since metal is an attractant

NEVER use a cell phone, turn it off ASAP.

Like dialing for a lightning strike at your head.

Add a cellphone under it and the rish goes up exponentially.

Although the bulk of the posted advice is good, I'm afraid these bits are not particularly helpful. I would be very interested to know the postulated mechanism by which cell phones or jewelry "attracts" lightning, and by what exponent the "risk" rises. The only thing that "attracts" a lightning strike is the lowest resistance path to ground.

Cellphones are electro-magnetic transmitter / receivers.

What part about sending an electromagnetic signal up in an charged atmosphere doesn't compute for you.

Ever seen a Vandegraf generator. Same theory.

And I have seen slowmo video of lighting coming down

and being met part way up by a charge from the ground.

Bi directional. So you become a taller source for an up direction spike.

Metal conducts more than wood and other objects.

Even a short distance amount of extra conductivity is bad in a super charged atmosphere.

Not to mention the heat, because if you are struck will cause greater burns through jewelery

like silver necklaces and bracelets. It also most likely will go AROUND your body not through it,

UNLESS there is something to attract it more directly through you as the shortest lowered resistance direction.

The flat water makes ANYTHING taller more attractive.

Like boat masts, and people wearing metal.

Edited October 1, 2008 by animatic