Three men were killed and four injured after being struck by lightning in Phnom Penh in separate incidents during a rain shower Sunday afternoon, police said.
Two of the victims, Lim Veasna, 27, and Sok Song, 28, were killed while playing football in Russei Keo district’s Toek Thla commune behind Northbridge International School, at about 4 pm, district police chief Chey Boreila said.
A third man, Sok Soreun, 55, was killed by a lightning bolt 9 km away in Kilometer 6 commune at about the same time while sitting outside his house, commune police chief Ung Borith said.
Kim Sai, 33, said he witnessed the two men who died in a game between Bangkok Airway and Samaki football teams.
Six men from both teams were knocked down as the lightning struck near the Samaki defensive line, he said by phone yesterday.
Two of the four injured were still in critical condition in the hospital Sunday evening, he said.
“We are all so sorry about our friends,” Kim Sai said, adding that they had planned to watch the Euro 2008 football final between Spain and Germany together that evening.
“None of us could sleep [Sunday] night from thinking about it,” he said.
Nhim Vanda, first vice president of the National Committee for Disaster Management, said Monday that there appeared to have been an increase in the incidence of lightning deaths in Cambodia over the past year and urged people to take extra care during heavy rainstorms.
