Lightning kills man in Sogod

CEBU, Philippines – An auto mechanic was hit by lightning when he opened the door of their house in Sitio Lantawan, Barangay Damolog, Sogod, Cebu last Tuesday evening.

Joseph Presbitero, 31, was taken to the Juan Diosdado Memorial Hospital in Sogod but he died along the way.

PO3 Elymar Mendoza, desk officer of the Sogod Police Station, said that Presbitero was still able to talk to his wife and warned her not to touch him for she might be electrocuted.

"Murag dili ang mata jud sa kilat ang niigo sa biktima kay wala man siya nalagpot. Nakaistorya paman gani siya sa iya asawa ug giingnan na dili siya hikapon kay basin maunsa pud siya," Mendoza said in an interview with The FREEMAN.

According to Mendoza, it was raining hard the night of the accident and power was cut off.

Presbitero picked up a cellular phone that has a flash light and decided to check their drum outside to see if it's already full of rainwater.

But when he opened the door, the lightning struck him. He then fell to the ground. His wife immediately went over to him but Presbitero warned her not to touch him, and asked his wife to get the phone that was thrown.

Mendoza said that the house of the victim is situated at high ground, as it is in the mountainous part of the barangay. They also have iron sheet roofing, which the police suspect caught the lightning.

"Sin man ang atop sa balay sa biktima na posibleng naka-attract sa maong kilat. Padung man unta ni siya gawas arun tan-awun kung napuno naba ang ila baril nga gisahod sa uwan," Mendoza said.

That same day, the headquarters of the Daanbantayan Police Station was also struck by lightning at around 8:00 p.m. but no one was hurt.

However, the police station's radio transceiver, televisions, and computer were destroyed by the lightning, with the damage amounting to P100,000.

The police thought that they were being attacked when the lightning struck so they immediately went to the ground to take cover.

After the incident, they then checked the place and discovered that it was lightning that hit the station. They immediately gathered any metallic thing that could possibly attract another lightning and hid them. (THE FREEMAN)