Man struck dead by lightning prior to fishing trip

BALIK PULAU: A factory supervisor was struck dead by lightning at the Teluk Kumbar beach near here last night while he and two friends were waiting for a boat to embark on a fishing trip.

Mohamad Amin Osman, 47, died on the spot in the 10pm incident.

Southwest police chief Supt A. Anbalagan said the victim and his friends planned to go to Pulau Kendi for the fishing trip when the incident occurred.

“According to his ( Mohamad Amin’s) friend, it was raining heavily when the victim was struck by lightning whose impact caused him to be hurled to the water’s edge. While the two friends and several villagers tried to revive the victim, checks by the medical response team which arrived at the scene found that the man was already dead,” he said here yesterday.

Mohamad Amin was warded at the Penang General Hospital.

Anbalagan said one of Mohamad Amin’s two friends, who was also hit by the lightning sustained numbness in the hands and was warded at the hospital.

Meanwhile, the deceased’s son, Muhamad Izdhar, 21, said the victim left home with his friends after performing the Maghrib prayers.

“Of late, he was pretty much a quiet person. It had been a while since the last time he went out fishing,” he said when met at the hospital mortuary. — Bernama