Pang Nop was pedalling his bicycle home through a light drizzle when he paused to pick up some stones for his slingshot. As he did, the sky flashed and he fell to the ground, dead.
“Suddenly we saw him lying down,” said Uy Saroeurn, the boy’s uncle, who was planting rice in a nearby field.
The 14-year-old had died instantly, a big bruise on the back of his neck.
Pang Nop had become one of 95 Cambodians killed by lightning last year, more than double the 2007 total of 45 lightning fatalities and the highest-ever annual tally in the country.
“Most of the people killed are farmers who continue to work in rice paddies or herd cattle during rainstorms,” says Long Saravuth, a weather expert at Cambodia’s Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology. “Those people should be highly alert to the problem, but they don’t try to find shelter when it rains.”
The tropical country of lazy rivers and lakes is particularly prone to cloud formations that generate intense lightning storms, Long Saravuth said.
These formations can hover just 50m above the earth, and anyone underneath is vulnerable to lightning strike.
As the country’s rainy season drew to a close, local newspapers seemed to carry reports on new lightning deaths nearly every day — farmers, fishermen and soccer players have all recently been hit.
Worried Cambodians hope this year will offer respite. The country only began compiling lightning statistics two years ago after an increase in reports of deaths.
Some Cambodians have searched science and religion to explain the phenomenon, with many of the country’s 14 million people believing lightning is connected to supernatural forces.
“The lightning last year was more fierce than ever before. I’m worried I might be the next victim — but I believe if we do good deeds, we avoid lightning and bad luck,” said Cheng Chenda, a housewife in Phnom Penh.
In his office at the Buddhist Institute, advisor on mores and customs Miech Ponn said many Cambodians believed people with moles on their calves were susceptible to lightning strikes, as were people who had broken promises.
Cambodians also use mystical cures for those who have been struck.
When he found Pang Nop’s body, Uy Saroeurn carried it to the boy’s mother who quickly covered her son with a white cloth in the hope that it would revive him.
Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency on Friday after authorities accused a criminal network operating in prisons across the country of plotting to kill key government officials and attack public institutions. It is the second state of emergency to be declared in the twin-island republic in a matter of months. In December last year, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. Police said that smuggled cellphones enabled those involved in the plot to exchange encrypted messages. Months of intelligence gathering led investigators to believe the targets included senior police officers,
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also