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

[mr_lob]

16 hours ago, sanemax said:

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

How about a plastic bag on the head? Would that have helped? Another world class Thai idea when its lashing down

[lvr181]

Perhaps it was lack of education that lead to their death and injury?

 

 

14 hours ago, sanukjim said:

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

Lay flat on the ground.

 

 

RIP to Thai lady and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured man.

[F4UCorsair]

17 hours ago, crystal sauce said:

Why would lightning strikes humans?

The same reason it strikes anything else, the shortest/least resistance path th earth.

[crystal sauce]

I think people who get struck by lightning are some kinda of special.

[F4UCorsair]

10 hours ago, nudger said:

Another possibility (perhaps not in this case though) is that lightning can hit the wet ground and then travel along the ground and then up whatever tall object is near

i have witnessed the results of this

Once grounded, it travels no further.  What would be the path up through a human?  Electricity needs to travel somewhere, from negative to positive, and the person/object on the ground is already at 'ground potential' (electrical term).

[F4UCorsair]

15 hours ago, gr8fldanielle said:

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

 

 

12 hours ago, cat handler said:

Ha ha ha ha, yeah right.

just wondering how the lightening knows that?

 

12 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Because the lightning comes from the ground first.

Exactly right canuckamuck.  Go to the top of the class.

 

The poster who said 'both' is partly right in that it starts from the cloud (negatively charged) and heads toward the always positively charged (relatively) ground, but a 'return' leaves the ground before the downward strike reaches the ground, and that's why the brightest flash appears to be from the ground up.   This all happens pretty fast, the speed of light, 186,000 miles a second, from memory.  The reason the clap is heard later is that sound travels at about 700 miles per hour.  If you, or a close by object, were struck by lightning, you'd see the flash and hear the clap simultaneously.

 

I'm sure all that info is on the web somewhere.

[tandor]

15 hours 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 

..so we're all grasshoppers.

[ttrd]

10 hours ago, KIWIBATCH said:

Trees are also full of sap coupled with their often deep roots and height above ground you have an almost perfect lightning conductor.... Never sit under a tree during a lightning storm 

...to take a swim is even worse as YOU will be the highest point...

[gk10002000]

19 hours ago, crystal sauce said:

Why would lightning strikes humans?

The tree is actually a pretty good target for the lightning to strike, tall and shortest path to ground and back.  The article title saying lightning struck them is probably a bit in accurate.  It struck near them me thinks.

 

7- Avoid being the tallest object around. If caught in an open field, get as low as you can but do not lie prone on the ground, this will expose your heart to the electrical current from the lightning bolt. Squat on the balls of your feet to have minimum contact with the ground. Place your hands over your ears and your head between your knees.

[Keesters]

18 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

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.

Never under a single tree but OK in a forest if your tree is smaller than others around you. Lightening normally strikes the highest point. Don't be the highest thing around.

 

 

[Jonmarleesco]

CCTV cameras working? 

[Bangkok or bust]

No video?

[oldhippy]

28 minutes ago, Bangkok or bust said:

No video?

pics OK too ?

 

[canuckamuck]

12 hours ago, lvr181 said:

Lay flat on the ground.

 

No, you should squat.

But better yet, unless you are in a huge plain, get the heck out of there. Find a building or car, or get in the forest and decrease your odds.

[exalll]

12 hours ago, F4UCorsair said:

 

 

Exactly right canuckamuck.  Go to the top of the class.

 

The poster who said 'both' is partly right in that it starts from the cloud (negatively charged) and heads toward the always positively charged (relatively) ground, but a 'return' leaves the ground before the downward strike reaches the ground, and that's why the brightest flash appears to be from the ground up.   This all happens pretty fast, the speed of light, 186,000 miles a second, from memory.  The reason the clap is heard later is that sound travels at about 700 miles per hour.  If you, or a close by object, were struck by lightning, you'd see the flash and hear the clap simultaneously.

 

I'm sure all that info is on the web somewhere.

However, true pine trees (Genus Pinus) do not have deep tap roots.  There are very few true pines in Thailand - only in the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son area.  These "pines" are almost certainly Casuarina equisetifolia, and are not conifers at all.  Don't know about their tap roots.

[tazly]

On 2017-05-25 at 0:11 AM, 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"

 

No there is some evidence that others have also been hit in similar circumstances....you sound like you work for the manufacturers and next will be denying a link to brain cancer!

[tazly]

13 hours ago, Keesters said:

Never under a single tree but OK in a forest if your tree is smaller than others around you. Lightening normally strikes the highest point. Don't be the highest thing around.

 

 

You say normally...what percentage of cases?  Is less than 100 that means there is still risk around the non-highest objects.

 

[tazly]

13 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

The tree is actually a pretty good target for the lightning to strike, tall and shortest path to ground and back.  The article title saying lightning struck them is probably a bit in accurate.  It struck near them me thinks.

 

7- Avoid being the tallest object around. If caught in an open field, get as low as you can but do not lie prone on the ground, this will expose your heart to the electrical current from the lightning bolt. Squat on the balls of your feet to have minimum contact with the ground. Place your hands over your ears and your head between your knees.

would not squatting on 1 foot be better though more tiring

[sandrabbit]

4 minutes ago, tazly said:

No there is some evidence that others have also been hit in similar circumstances....you sound like you work for the manufacturers and next will be denying a link to brain cancer!

Tin Foil

[sandrabbit]

8 minutes ago, tazly said:

would not squatting on 1 foot be better though more tiring

no it's current squared against resistance, can't do electrical formulas quickly on here

 

Isquared/R

 

so the higher R is the more power is dissipated through your body, not true but it sounds good it's the reverse but it wouldn't matter in a strike, but more volts dropped across your body. most survivors have either been in rain or had a lot of sweat. should have done the maths properly before I posted, crash'n'burn lol. welcome to the world without Singha light ( a different topic on here)

[onthesoi]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5106510.stm

[ttrd]

32 minutes ago, onthesoi said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5106510.stm

LIGHTNING FACTS

 

There are, on average, about 1,800 thunderstorms in progress at any one time around the world with 100 lightning strikes every second.

A lightning bolt travels at about 14,000mph and heats up the air around it to 30,000°C - five times hotter than the surface of the sun.

 

"The chance of being hit by lightning is about one in three million"

 

* With other words its far more easy to win full pot in lotto than to be hit by lightning, i.e multippel lotto-winners "watch out"...;)...

[simon43]

As a shortwave radio amateur, I'm very much aware of the risks of lightning strikes on my wire and vertical antennas.  I use a fast-acting commercial lightning strike unit in the feed-line to my transmitter which will conduct the current to ground in the event of a direct strike.

 

As for being thrown a distance by muscle spasm, if hit by lightning or a large electric shock, I recall in the 70's when I used to build valve transmitters in my UK bedroom.  These typically used a voltage of about 2,500 volts on the top cap of the transmitting valves.  On one occasion during some live tests, I touched the top cap by accident and then woke up on the other side of my bedroom, having been flung right across the room by my muscle spasms, (or was it by a built-in desire for self-preservation?)

[Keesters]

11 hours ago, tazly said:

You say normally...what percentage of cases?  Is less than 100 that means there is still risk around the non-highest objects.

 

Isn't everything about percentages. You'd never go outside if there was a 0.000000000000000000000000000001% chance of you not returning home. I said normally in case some idiot said that there are known cases of it not hitting the highest point. Instead I get you.

 

 

[Dumbastheycome]

I  am tempted  to  laugh. 

fact is  that  lightening  " usually" contacts  at  highest  point . Which implies  that on a  small  percentage of  cases  it strikes at a point lower. Probably/possibly  because  that  lower  point  is closer to the  focal potential  energy than  another  higher  point.

Proximity  to the  point  of  the strike is  obviously  important  but equally  obvious is  that  direct  or near  to  the  incredible  energy discharge is potentially  lethal.

Science still  has  no  full  understanding  of  the   various  forms  of  lightening. It  is   now  known   sometimes  it  can  emit  x-ray  emissions  despite  a  non  nuclear presence. (?)

Ball  lightening is  a phenonomen that  has  intrigued people   for  eons. 

So  the reality  remains that  in a  lightening  storm  the  safest  place  is  under  cover  in a  location  least  likely  to  be  the  point  of  strike.

How  you  squat  or  hover will have  little  to  stop  you  being a  pork crisp in the very very  unlikely  case  you receive  a  direct   hit  !

[sambum]

2 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

I  am tempted  to  laugh. 

fact is  that  lightening  " usually" contacts  at  highest  point . Which implies  that on a  small  percentage of  cases  it strikes at a point lower. Probably/possibly  because  that  lower  point  is closer to the  focal potential  energy than  another  higher  point.

Proximity  to the  point  of  the strike is  obviously  important  but equally  obvious is  that  direct  or near  to  the  incredible  energy discharge is potentially  lethal.

Science still  has  no  full  understanding  of  the   various  forms  of  lightening. It  is   now  known   sometimes  it  can  emit  x-ray  emissions  despite  a  non  nuclear presence. (?)

Ball  lightening is  a phenonomen that  has  intrigued people   for  eons. 

So  the reality  remains that  in a  lightening  storm  the  safest  place  is  under  cover  in a  location  least  likely  to  be  the  point  of  strike.

How  you  squat  or  hover will have  little  to  stop  you  being a  pork crisp in the very very  unlikely  case  you receive  a  direct   hit  !

"I  am tempted  to  laugh" So am I!  "ball lightening" might be achieved with a good razor, whereas a "lightening storm" might conceivably happen in a ladies hairdressing salon on a Friday afternoon!   Sorry - couldn't resist the temptation!

[lvr181]

Squatting and putting your head between your knees, sounds great. And while you are doing that just kiss your ass goodbye! 

[kangaloowest]

I do not think that is too far past the realms of Physics, for a super highly charged electrical current, to use a wireless/frequency to find earth.  

After all, wireless frequencies are a form of energy transmission, and therefore must be considered an electrical conductor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_power_transfer

I believe that when there is such a highly charged current looking to earth, it will use whatever means necessary to get there, to whether it be a “good earth” or a “poor one”.

I am not saying that using a mobile phone in an electrical storm is unsafe or otherwise, but I for one, certainly do not wish to test the boundaries of the Physics of Nature.

 

In relation to this topic, a good mate of mine from Perth WA, who was a secondary teacher, travelled from Perth to Isaan, a few years back, with a group of students, and a teaching assistant, on a cross-cultural exchange exercise.

 

When out with the group one day, a Thunderstorm hit the area, so they all madly scrambled for cover from the pelting rain under a large tree.

There was a lightning strike that hit the ground not far from the sheltered group that travelled through the ground instantly killing my mate, and two Thai students, also badly injuring the teaching assistant, whom later died from injuries sustained.

Everyone else in the group survived unscathed.

 

Yes, the surrounding area was wet from the rain, as were the huddled group under the tree.

No, the lightning did not strike the tree, but it did strike the wet ground nearby.

Why were three people out of a group killed instantly, and one badly injured, later to pass away, and the rest left unharmed ??.

Maybe there was a root of the tree not far from the ground surface that acted as a conducting rod, attracting the lighting as an earthing point, and these people were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I do not know anything more than the devastating facts that we were left with, but I do know one thing, that I will never consciously give the Physics of Nature a chance to harm me or others through mischance/ignorance or naivety.

[oldhippy]

Does anybody have a lightening rod installed on his house / land? Any suggestions or experiences ?

 

 

[tifino]

in the cctv vid, the flash was red??