A 16-year-old boy who was struck by lightning in a park as he sheltered under a tree has died. Mohammed Junaid was taken to hospital following the incident in Small Health Park, Birmingham, on Saturday afternoon. West Midlands Ambulance Service said he had suffered a cardiac arrest. The teenager was taken to the city's Heartlands Hospital and then transferred to a specialist burns unit at Selly Oak Hospital on Saturday evening. He died there on Tuesday. It is believed he and five friends had been playing cricket in the park before deciding to shelter under the tree. Birmingham Coroner's Court is hoping to open the inquest into his death later. Five other boys, all aged 16 and 17, were also struck and injured during the incident and were taken to hospital. One boy remains in a stable condition at Heartlands Hospital and another has been released
^ actually.... it's much safer to stand under a tree than and wide open area... usually you don't stand RIGHT NEXT to the tree but a good few feet away.... it better be a big tree or what's the point right? the reason behind that is that lightning is basically a huge difference in voltage from the ground to the sky if you are in a wide open field the shortest path connected to the ground can very well be you
Most people should had known not to stand under a tree during a thunder storm. Guess people think it can't happen to them and would rather not get wet.
this reminds me of the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"... "I've been struck by lightening for 7 times." -- an old man in the senior facility
Considering the fact that a human being is essentially a large bag of electrochemical solution that is great for conducting electrical current, what do you think would happen if you placed such an inviting electrical pathway immediately next to a much poorer conducting medium (like a tree)? The electrical force would seek the path of least resistance, the electrochemical bag of conducting solution. IE, the stream of energy would preferentially leap off the tree and into the person. Ergo, don't stand next to trees in lightning storms. I was once walking through a light rain in New York City (downtown) with buildings all around me (some to 20 stories) when a bolt of lightning struck a tree. I remember distinctly a brief moment before when I suddenly felt as if every hair on my body was standing on end, followed with a loud surging zap sound that I instinctively knew was electrical. The air suddenly felt different and the change was strikingly intense. The only way that I could describe it is that it was as if I had walked from a hot sweltering day into an overly air condition place, except that this wasn't a matter of hot and cold. It seem like the air was suddenly not as thick, becoming exceedingly rarefied. There was also a transient but unmistakable smell of ozone, followed by a huge boom. The tree was actually small (about 4-5 stories) and much lower than several surrounding buildings. I have no idea why that bolt chose to strike something that was obviously very much lower than a 20 story building. Interestingly, when the bolt struck, I was almost a whole city block away. This all happened in about a second, and occurred more than 30 years ago. However it was so profound and extraordinary an experience that I can recall it (the sensation, the feeling, the smell) as if it had just happened yesterday. In a bizarre twist, my mother told me of an amazing lightning experience that she had as a teenager. She was sitting in her living room on the third floor of their home on North Point in Hong Kong. It was raining on and off that day, and she said that she was just about to get up to walk to the kitchen for something. Out of nowhere a bolt suddenly appeared, coming in from an opened window, streaming down the hallway, and exiting through another open window. To this day, my mother will close all the windows whenever it rains. And take a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKPwkau0Dh0
that's scary!!even when you're indoor and you left the window open,you may get struck by lightning-unsure
rofl, ill chose wide open area any day, no trees for me, besides when i see them dark clouds coming i head indoors.
lmfao if indoors was an option and you chose to stay outside... -mellow bah, once it started remotely raining/thundering/lightening i would have moved indoors... i hate being soaked
