Man identified in lightning fatality
Antonio Miranda, father were cutting branches as bolts hit Australian pine.
LAKE WORTH — A 39-year-old West Palm Beach man died Tuesday when three bolts of lightning struck a tree near where he was working in Lake Worth, the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office said.
Antonio Miranda and his father, 71-year-old Enrique Miranda, were cutting branches in a wooded area near Pierce Drive and 22nd Avenue North.
The three bolts struck a tall Australian pine near where the two were standing at about 2:45 p.m. The electrical current from the bolts went through the tree and ground, causing them to fall, the sheriff ’s office said.
Enrique Miranda managed to call 911, the sheriff ’s office said.
Both men were taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, authorities said. Antonio Miranda was pronounced dead at about 3:30 p.m.
Enrique Miranda was released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon, a hospital spokesman confirmed.
The two men owned Top Choice Pest Control in Royal Palm Beach, according to Florida business records. Their truck was parked Tuesday near the site of the lightning strike. Calls to the business were not returned Wednesday.
Lightning doesn’t typically burn its victims, but a neighbor said one man looked like he had been “thrown in and taken out of a fire.”
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident, a spokesman confirmed Wednesday. OSHA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor that investigates workplace deaths.
Six people have been killed by lightning in Florida this year, including a Lake Worth woman who was killed by a lightning strike while working on a northwest Broward County farm in May. The nationwide total of deaths is 13.