DIPOLOG CITY (Mindanao Examiner / May 28, 2014) – Police said a teenager who was hit by a lightning – along with his three-year old cousin – had died in hospital due to severe injuries in the southern Philippines.
Police said the other victim, Jelemae Igod, is still under observation in the hospital where her cousin Ronald Igod, 19, succumbed to his wounds.
The two were listening to a radio program inside their house in the village of Soguilon in Zamboanga del Norte’s Siayan town when the lightning struck them during heavy rain. They were rushed to hospital, but the teenager died hours later.
Last year, at least five people were reported killed by lightning in separate areas in Zamboanga Peninsula.
A 38-year old woman, Elsa Dumolon, was instantly killed from a lighting strike that went through her bedroom’s window in the village of Lumaping in Jose Dalman town also in Zamboanga del Norte. The woman was just sitting on her bed when the lightning struck her.
A two-year old boy, Regie Francisco, was killed and his mother, Angelyn, 22, also severely burned in a lightning strike in the village of Lanzones in Zamboanga City.
A lightning strike in Zamboanga del Sur’s Tungawan town also killed an army sentinel, Pfc. Jaymar Tumarong, while another soldier, Pfc. Jemar Destrajo, was injured. The two soldiers, members of the 6th Special Forces Battalion, were guarding their post when lightning hit them.
There was no immediate statistics as to the number of documented casualties or injuries from lightning strikes in the Philippines, but those struck by lightning and survived suffered from a variety of long-term symptoms, including memory loss, chronic pain, numbness, dizziness, muscle spasms and depression among others. (Mindanao Examiner)
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