Lightning strikes; 10 laborers hospitalized

BACOLOD City – Ten people, all of whom were farm laborers, sustained injured from a lightning strike in Purok Concordia, Barangay Ma-ao, Bago City, Negros Occidental on Tuesday afternoon.

They were tending a sugarcane field when the lightning struck.

Two of the farmhands were reported to be in critical condition.

The farm laborers were Romy Dequiña, 42; Regie Subong, 21; Carlo Pelarta, 30; Angelito Tamayo Jr., 38; Rodrigo Vallota, 36; Leonard Luardo, 20; Danny Boy Alvarez, 29; Herson Subong, 32; Melody Jocson, 33; and JR Blanca, 31.

According to Michael Cahilo, he and his helper Bryan Dela Cruz were waiting for their truck to be loaded with sugarcane when, at around 3 p.m., it suddenly turned dark and heavy rain began to fall.

Cahilo and his helper went inside the truck to take cover while the laborers sought shelter underneath t he vehicle.

Cahilo said he didn’t know that the truck was already hit by lightning; he just saw 10 of his 16 laborers rolling on the ground and groaning in pain.

The laborers were taken to the Bago City Hospital.

Lightning is electricity in the atmosphere. Lightning events can happen in the sky ( cloud lightning) or come down to the Earth (cloud-toground lightning)./