CCTV caught the moment two Thai tourists on phones were struck by lightning on Cha-Am beach

[webfact]

CCTV caught the moment two Thai tourists on phones were struck by lightning on Cha-Am beach

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

CHA-AM: -- A Thai woman died and her male companion was injured when lightning struck at the northern end of Cha-Am beach yesterday.

 

CCTV showed the flash as the two tourists, who were sitting on a plastic mat under a pine tree, were knocked over unconscious.

 

Both were playing on their phones at the time, said Thai Rath.

 

Police and foundation medics who were quickly on the scene found an unidentified 30 year old man in a dazed state with burns to his left leg.

 

Nearby was a 27 year old woman with burns to the right of her head and blood coming from her nose, mouth and ear.

 

She was rushed to hospital but died on the way. She was named as Supranee Kheunkankong from Chaiyaphum.

 

Police said that the fact that the couple were on their mobile phones was a factor in them being struck by lightning.

 

Thaivisa notes that many leading organizations throughout the world have debunked the popular theory that mobile phones attract lightning though the debate continues.

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-05-25

[sweatalot]

I don't believe their mobile phones have anything to do wit their accident.

But I do believe their sitting under a tree on the otherwise empty beach caused it.

 

It might be true that many lightning victims had their mobile with them.

The reason is clear: how many percent have no mobile with them.

Same logic as "people who were struck by lightning had a head, so they are more in danger than than those without"

 

[NCC1701A]

" Police said that the fact that the couple were on their mobile phones was a factor in them being struck by lightning."

 

yes the same police who rule murder as suicide all the time.

 

[sanemax]

3 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

yes the same police who rule murder as suicide all the time

A tin foil hat may have saved them from the lightening strike 

[crystal sauce]

Why would lightning strikes humans?

[WhizBang]

15 hours ago, sanemax said:

A tin foil hat may have saved them from the lightening strike 

 

In this case, probably not.

[Rimmer]

A troll post has been removed

[AhFarangJa]

Mobile phones have nothing to do with it, Ever since i was a child I have been told to never shelter under a tree during a lightning storm. Always find shelter indoors or in a non convertible car.

Having said that, you never know what fate is going to throw at you. R.I.P. to the young lady, and a speedy recovery to the man.

[sandrabbit]

I think the mobile phone urban myth comes from your house telephone when the outside cable was struck by lightning whilst someone was on the phone.

[anon467367354]

Pine trees are notorious for being hit by lightning because their tap roots run very deep.

 

[RichinThailand]

2 hours ago, crystal sauce said:

Why would lightning strikes humans?

The lightning in all probability struck the pine tree which was probably the highest point nearby.  The extreme amount of electricity in a lightning strike causes electrical shock to those close to the lightning strike.  I have seen a case where over two dozen sheep were killed sleeping under a large oak tree that was struck by lightning.

 

As to the cell phone...It is unlikely that they had any direct affect on the lightning strike.

[samsensam]

 

my parents told me as a child never to stand under a tree in a thunder storm, it made sense to me even then so why an adult cannot grasp the concept that it might not be a sensible thing to do is baffling.

 

people standing under trees have been struck by lightning long before mobile phones were invented.

[firewight]

Yes I highly doubt my facebook data is going to attract the lighting to my phone lol!

[JustNo]

One crazy thing about lightning strikes or any high power electrical strike on a person, is that when you see someone fly 30 feet it is not from the electric directly. That is due to the muscles reflexing in such a way that they are propelled a huge distance. It brings up the question, how great is the potential of the human body when fully utilised 

[wvavin]

The moral of this story is never buy only one amulet but in a pair!

[Yann55]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Police said that the fact that the couple were on their mobile phones was a factor in them being struck by lightning.

 

Thaivisa notes that many leading organizations throughout the world have debunked the popular theory that mobile phones attract lightning though the debate continues.

Ah, but ... police know better ... why ? because they are the police.

[sandyf]

16 minutes ago, RichinThailand said:

The lightning in all probability struck the pine tree which was probably the highest point nearby.  The extreme amount of electricity in a lightning strike causes electrical shock to those close to the lightning strike.  I have seen a case where over two dozen sheep were killed sleeping under a large oak tree that was struck by lightning.

 

As to the cell phone...It is unlikely that they had any direct affect on the lightning strike.

Quite. About 55 years ago when I was at school there were three lads from the year below watching the cricket in Grant Park. A thunderstorm started and they took shelter under a large oak. The tree was hit by lightning and 2 were fatally injured and the other rendered unconcious, by coincidence his name was Grant. When they were found they were all naked and not a hair left on their bodies. The one that survived never did regain any hair on his head. When he came back to school he said all he could remember was his feet getting red hot and then a massive pain in his head.

Back in those days they didn't have today's technology so there was never any idea why he survived when his mates died.

[sanukjim]

3 hours ago, sweatalot said:

I don't believe their mobile phones have anything to do wit their accident.

But I do believe their sitting under a tree on the otherwise empty beach caused it.

 

It might be true that many lightning victims had their mobile with them.

The reason is clear: how many percent have no mobile with them.

Same logic as "people who were struck by lightning had a head, so they are more in danger than than those without"

 

You are much better off in open ground sitting in a slight depression in the land.The noble phone has nothing to do with it,it is the tree that was the grounding point

[Yann55]

5 minutes ago, JustNo said:

One crazy thing about lightning strikes or any high power electrical strike on a person, is that when you see someone fly 30 feet it is not from the electric directly. That is due to the muscles reflexing in such a way that they are propelled a huge distance. It brings up the question, how great is the potential of the human body when fully utilised 

One fascinating book on the subject is 'With mystics and Magicians in Tibet' by Alexandra David-Neel (1937). What makes it particularly interesting is that David-Neel was not just another guru-chasing nutcase. She was extremely down to earth, rational, simple and always kept her head on her shoulders (which saved her life a great number of times).

 

Yet she describes facts she actually witnessed (and in somes cases, experienced herself) where human beings performed things that would normally be labeled 'miracles'.

 

Sorry for being off topic here, just commenting on your comment.

[robertson468]

25 minutes ago, JustNo said:

One crazy thing about lightning strikes or any high power electrical strike on a person, is that when you see someone fly 30 feet it is not from the electric directly. That is due to the muscles reflexing in such a way that they are propelled a huge distance. It brings up the question, how great is the potential of the human body when fully utilised 

Sorry but I have to disagree with your theory.  As a young soldier a bunch of us were returning from a lecture and whilst walking along the road, in torrential rain and an immense thunder and lightning storm, a young soldier about 20 meters in front of us was hit by lighting, which was attracted to his brass cap badge, went through is body (killing him) blew him about 6 foot in the air, blowing off his boot in the process and left a hole in the road, where the lightning grounded.  Nothing to do with reflexing muscles I am afraid.

[TheFishman1]

Wasn't the phone but maybe sitting under tree not a good idea

[royalmice]

why not show the cctv footage ?

[Moonlover]

53 minutes ago, JustNo said:

One crazy thing about lightning strikes or any high power electrical strike on a person, is that when you see someone fly 30 feet it is not from the electric directly. That is due to the muscles reflexing in such a way that they are propelled a huge distance. It brings up the question, how great is the potential of the human body when fully utilised 

When a lighting bolt strikes, they is a rapid heating and expansion of the air around it and within it, causing a pressure wave similar to an explosion. It's that pressure wave and the implosion that follows that throws bodies and other objects away from the strike point.

 

It's the implosion, by the way that causes the thunderclap.

[PETERTHEEATER]

TV posters may not believe that the mobile phones were a factor in being struck by lightning but check out the photograph in the OP; not a single onlooker is holding a phone.......now that's so rare I think that they have been 'photoshopped' out....

 

Last year there was a report of a young woman riding pillion behind her husband on a motorbike with their young daughter sandwiched between. Mum was holding an open umbrella as protection against the rain. Lightning struck the tip of the brolly went through he body exiting her anus and went to ground burning a hole through the bike seat killing the woman.

 

 

[Monkeyrobot]

3 hours ago, sandrabbit said:

I think the mobile phone urban myth comes from your house telephone when the outside cable was struck by lightning whilst someone was on the phone.

My friend was on the landline phone and lightning struck the line, he wad pretty <deleted> up , he could not talk for two years. 

[hansnl]

4 hours ago, sweatalot said:

I don't believe their mobile phones have anything to do wit their accident.

But I do believe their sitting under a tree on the otherwise empty beach caused it.

 

It might be true that many lightning victims had their mobile with them.

The reason is clear: how many percent have no mobile with them.

Same logic as "people who were struck by lightning had a head, so they are more in danger than than those without"

 

Just suppose that mobile phones would be only a wee bit dangerous.

Not many people would accept any danger induced by the mobile phone craze, real or imagined

Dream on.....

[sambum]

1 hour ago, royalmice said:

why not show the cctv footage ?

Morbid curiosity?

[freethinker]

3 hours ago, sandrabbit said:

I think the mobile phone urban myth comes from your house telephone when the outside cable was struck by lightning whilst someone was on the phone.

Almost got <deleted> killed when lighting struck my phone line. A lighting bolt went trough the line, inside my house and came out of the phone socked and struck wildly in to the room. Scared the piss out of me. 

 

[cruisemonkey]

Don't sit/stand under trees during thunderstorms!

[scotchonrocks]

1 hour ago, robertson468 said:

Sorry but I have to disagree with your theory.  As a young soldier a bunch of us were returning from a lecture and whilst walking along the road, in torrential rain and an immense thunder and lightning storm, a young soldier about 20 meters in front of us was hit by lighting, which was attracted to his brass cap badge, went through is body (killing him) blew him about 6 foot in the air, blowing off his boot in the process and left a hole in the road, where the lightning grounded.  Nothing to do with reflexing muscles I am afraid.

Actually you are wrong and the previous poster was correct. The reaction of the muscles to the bolt of electricity does the propelling. Your soldier compatriot was unlikely to have been "blown into the air" (by the lightning) it would have been as a result of the lightning on his neuro transmitters acting on his muscles causing them to react and propel his body.

 

No doubt the path to earth created by the tree being the least path of resistance and the bystanders were caught in the enormous field effect radiating out from the tree. Tragic.