There has been a lot of rain with loud thunder happened lately when the rainy season is upon us and also one of our neighboring countries that is Indonesia. Unfortunately, a 16-year-old boy in Indonesia has died after being struck by lightning on the 24th of November 2020. It happened when the boy is using his phone while charging it.
According to a statement, the particular boy was currently still schooling in a secondary school that is located specifically in Kabupaten Grobogan, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia.
Jury Leonard Siahaan who is the police chief of the county said that the particular incident happened on the evening of the 24th of November 2020 at about 4 pm. The boy that dies went to the coffee shop with his friends and they were playing online games together on their phones.
At exactly around 5.30 pm, it was raining heavily there and the group was still playing games on their phone, the deceased was charging his phone at the same time. A few moments after that, huge lightning struck hard towards the 16-year-old and he was immediately 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. He passed away immediately.
According to a study, using mobile phones that are plugged into a charger is dangerous enough. Playing phone while charging during thunderstorms is the most dangerous as it provides a conductive path for the lightning bolt to follow from the location it originally strikes to your body.
Sources: Kompas.Com.