prey kabbas district, Takeo province – According to superstition, lightning strikes the ill-spirited.
But Khok Phoy, the latest victim of lightning strikes in this district, was not an ill-intentioned person, neighbors and family members living in Kdei Takhok village recalled.
The 68-year-old father of two was a good and respected man, they said in an interview this week. Khok Phoy was struck by lightning on Sept 5, as he climbed the wooden stairs to his house on a drizzling afternoon. The shock killed him instantly.
That same week, lightning strikes in Takeo province killed two women and a man were killed in Tram Kak district’s Popeal commune and a 15-year old boy in Nhorng Nhang commune.
Across the country, about 20 rural villagers have been killed by lightning so far this year, more than double the fatalities from lighting strikes last year, national disaster officials said. In 2003, there were seven reported deaths from lightning.
“Lighting accidents have really taken me off guard. It turns out to be one of the leading accidents,” said Nhim Vanda, first deputy of the National Disaster Management Committee.
Sith Vannarith, head of the meteorology department at the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, said the increase in lightning-related deaths may be partially linked to the El Nino-effect, which has hit Cambodia over the past three months. El Nino, which causes unusually dry, hot weather, may lead to an increase in lightning storms, Sith Vannarith said. The area around the Tonle Sap is at highest risk because the large body of water attracts lightning, she added.
Sith Vannarith said people carrying metal or magnetic objects during storms are targets for lightning strikes. She advised people not to hide under trees during storms. Some people are hit by lightning even if they are standing empty-handed in an open field because metal, particularly shrapnel from decades of war, remain hidden in the earth and attracts the strikes.
Some villagers, however, had a different explanation for the high death toll. Sak Sam, Khok Phoy’s neighbor, blamed the Year of the Monkey, considered by many Cambodians as an unlucky because the year’s Devada deity is believed to have a thirst for blood.
When Khok Phoy died, Sam Sak said he jumped over his body three times—the traditional ritual to rescue lightning victims— but to no avail.
Khok Phoy’s wife, Meas Hoy, said the family was particularly unlucky, as she, her husband and her son-in-law were all nearly blind from cataracts. The family must now rely on her daughter, a noodle vendor, for support.
