Lightning bolt hurts 18 cops

CEBU, Philippines - Eighteen policemen undergoing anti-insurgency training in the town of Sibonga in southern part of Cebu were struck by lightning while taking their lunch under the rain in a shrubby area of sitio Camansili, barangay Lamacan yesterday noon.

Sr. Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, training director of the Regional Public Safety Battalion in the region, told The Freeman that one of the trainees PO1 Aidrin Llorente, who was holding a shotgun, was struck by lightning.

According to Lawas, PO1 Laurente’s government issued shotgun was hit by lightning and those around him were also hit by the bolt.

When informed of the incident, Lawas dispatched several vehicles to the training site to bring those injured to the Cebu South General Hospital in Naga City.

Laurente and PO1 Edmund Sumalinog were the ones, who sustained major injuries.

According to Lawas, Sumalinog had a lacerated wound in the head while Laurente was physically shocked and failed to respond to questions after the accident.

But, after Llorente received proper medical attention, he was able to talk and narrated what happened to his superiors.

This team is part of the 320 Regional Mobile Group trainees undergoing five-day Special Counter-Insurgency Training five kilometers away from their main base when the accident happened.

Aside from the two, other team members who also felt the electric shock were PO1s Marjuel Molina, Edward Gonzales, Norman Luage, Leah Seraña, Obdulia Baring, Erick Diamante, Geoffrey Aparece, Junrey Garigade, Richard Cabatbat, Barry Entea, Benedicto Ejan, Darryl Mark Biolangco, Cesar Gaboie, Rey Duran, Silvano Bascones and Galarce.

Lawas said that it is part of the training regimen to conduct operations in any weather condition.

In a radio report, PO2 Ederlino Bacusmo of Sibonga police station said they were not able to send help as the municipal ambulance is under repair.

Help did not however reach the area very quickly as the bad roads and the poor weather condition forced Lawas and his men to leave their vehicles two kilometers away from the site.

The injured policemen were carried by their comrades using makeshift stretchers.

Police Regional Office-7 director, Chief Supt. Lani-O Nerez, who visited the policemen at the hospital said that the PNP will shoulder the hospital bills.

He also ordered the suspension of the training yesterday, but did not say when the it will resume.

Al Alcazar, weather observer of Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA) in Mactan in an interview with The Freeman said the policemen were lucky that no one was killed in the incident.

Alcazar said that the weather disturbance in Sibonga is not in anyway connected to the brewing typhoon Basyang in Luzon.

He said the thunderstorms that were experienced in Sibonga were caused by ‘cumulonimbus’ clouds that usually form during this season.

According to Alacazar, this type of cloud is accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning and followed by rain showers.

This is not the first time that police training in Sibonga was suspended due to nature’s intervention.

In 2005, some 127 police trainees of the same training school landed in the PNP Health Service in Camp Sotero Cabahug in Cebu City after being attacked by jellyfish when they were allowed to go for a swim after a morning road run.

The policemen were ordered to rest for a few days and were given medication as they suffered rashes and itchiness. – with Lesley Caminade/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)