ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE – A 40-year old woman was killed by a lightning bolt that struck her house in Sergio Osmeña town in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga del Norte, police said on Sunday.
Police said the woman’s body was discovered by her son-in-law outside the kitchen that had been also ripped apart by the lightning strike which occurred in the village of Bagong Baguio on the afternoon of November 15.
Joel Gerolada, 25, said it was raining hard when he discovered the body and immediately informed authorities about it. He said a baby’s cry attracted him to the house and was shocked to see his mother-in-law Eva Emit sprawled and lifeless outside the kitchen.
He said the woman was still holding a piece of firewood which she probably gathered outside the house. The baby was unharmed.
In May this year, a teenager Ronald Igod was killed by a lightning strike that also injured his three-year old cousin Jelemae Igod in the village of Soguilon in Zamboanga del Norte’s Siayan town.
The two were listening to a radio program inside their house when lightning struck them.
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 hit 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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