A 14-year-old boy is dead after being struck by lightning while riding his motorbike through Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district on Tuesday, local officials said Wednesday.
After a day working in the rice field with his mother, the boy and his cousin were headed home shortly after 4 p.m. when the lightning struck, killing him instantly and knocking his 8-year-old passenger unconscious.
“When the boy drove off, his mother was in the field pulling the seedlings,” said Y Kavin, chief of Chhvang commune.
“When she heard the lightning strike, the sound of the motorbike stopped and after looking around she saw her son on the ground.”
The 8-year-old was revived by villagers soon after the crash. Mr. Kavin said the boy, who is the only son and the youngest child in his family, had suffered a broken neck in the crash.
According to Keo Vy, cabinet chief at the National Committee for Disaster Management, 70 people have been killed by lightning this year.
He said 101 people were killed by lightning in all of 2013.
