Ammunition explosion
On July 10, 1926, lightning struck the Navy Ammunition Depot near Mount Hope, New Jersey, United States. Millions of pounds of TNT were ignited, resulting in three explosions. Nineteen people died and 38 were wounded.
Lansa Flight disaster
On Dec 24, 1971, Lansa Flight 508 with 92 people departed Lima for Peru. A lightning strike ignited the fuel tank on the right wing, and the plane disintegrated.
Pan American tragedy
On Dec 8, 1963, Pan Am Flight 214 took off from Puerto Rico to Philadelphia with 73 passengers and 8 crew members. As the aeroplane waited in a holding pattern prior to landing, lightning struck, igniting the vapours in its reserve tanks, causing the plane to explode. Nobody survived.
(Note: Following the disaster, aviation regulations have made it mandatory for commercial aircraft to have built-in lightning protection for their fuel tanks and lines and, since the 1980s, for electrical and electronic systems as well.)
Football team killed
All 11 members of a football team died after lightning struck and 30 others injured during a match in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Oct 28, 1998. The other team survived, which led the superstitious Congalese to speculate that black magic was involved.
Massive blackout
Lightning struck the electrical power grid near Paka, Terengganu, on Sept 29, 1992, causing a near total blackout in the Peninsula – 80% of the population was left without power for 33 hours.
Two hikers are killed and another 22 are injured at Gunung Rajah, near Bentong, Pahang, on May 3, 2004. The group were camping on the peak when lightning struck a tree nearby.
Train collision
At least 43 people were injured when two KTM Komuter trains collided near Seremban on March 2, 2004. A power surge from lightning paralysed the electronic signalling and communication systems, rendering KTM controllers “blind”.
Wrong shelter
Teenager Hezrill Remmy Ng was killed by lightning on May 26, 2006. He had taken cover in a small zinc-roofed shelter at a park in USJ 16, Subang Jaya. This drew public attention to the dangers of such council-bult gazebos.
Depot inferno
Lightning struck a 90,000 litre petrol tank at the Petronas Dagangan depot at the Pasir Gudang port, Johor, on April 28, 2006. The fire, which spread to two other tanks, could be seen from Singapore.
Soldiers hit
On Nov 21, 2008, 43 soldiers from the Royal Malay Regiment were shocked when they were sheltering in a tent on a hill clearing near Kota Belud, Sabah, when lightning struck. An army officer was killed and seven others were injured.
Today, I learnt that changing the arrangement of your room/house really changes the way your room/house looks.
(And I learnt that lightnings are really dangerous).
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