Lightning strikes: Beware of the bolt from the blue

A day after three young girls were admitted to various hospitals in the eastern suburbs after lightning struck in the vicinity, the weather department has issued another warning predicting heavy rainfall and lightning for the next three days.

“Due to ionization in the atmosphere during heavy rainfall there is an electrical discharge. Sometimes this gets attracted to neutral surfaces on the ground and that is when lightning strikes,” said VK Rajiv, director of the Regional Meteorological Department, Mumbai.

“We have been issuing warnings of heavy rainfall and thunderstorms since a week now. People should be more careful especially of their children when they know there is going to be a storm. People are at risk if they neglect these warnings,” Rajiv said.

Experts said lightning is the highest form of energy which if passes through the human body directly will reduce it to dust.

“It also affects the persons in the vicinity that it strikes as the electric and heat charge produced is immense. It disturbs the heart rhythm, can pierce through ear drum, cause cataract trouble in eyes and gangrenes. Even as the patient appears fine after a day, it can cause major repercussions inside the body. The patients should seek medical follow up,” said Dr SM Keswani, plastic surgeon at National Burns Centre in Airoli, Navi Mumbai.

The BMC disaster management experts say there is no danger to anyone helping a person who has been struck by lightning as no electric charge remains in their body after lightning has passed.

“Treat those who are unconscious first as they are at greater risk of dying. Patient has to be revived with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) as s/he may appear dead with feeble pulse and no breath,” said Shantaram Shinde, joint commissioner (disaster management), BMC.

Meanwhile, the three girls from Kurla admitted to various hospitals across eastern suburbs for burn injuries after lightning struck in the vicinity on Sunday evening are out of danger now.

Afiya Ansari (7), Iram Shaikh (7) and Sadrunissa Shaikh (7) were playing in a compound near Bhagirathi Chawl in Kurla (West) when the tragedy struck.

Doctors kept Iram and Sadrunissa on ventilator support for over 24 hours before declaring that the girls were out of danger. Afiya, 7, is recuperating at Habib Hospital in Kurla.

“We were playing near the closed shutter of Iqbal Tailors in the compound. Around 7.30pm we heard a huge sound and got stuck to the shutter. All the three of us passed out and landed up in the hospital,” Afiya said.

The locals said the lightning struck the ground a few feet away out of the blue. The atmosphere was charged with electricity and the girls came in contact with the iron shutter of the tailoring shop.

“When a young boy Shanu, 12, went to physically separate them, he too received electric jolt. Eventually, the girls were separated with wooden sticks and admitted to the hospital as the current in the body lessened,” said the girls’ neighbour, Mohammed Salim.

“Iram and Sadrunissa’s pulse was extremely feeble and fluctuating. They have sustained superficial bruises and burn injuries on the head and back. They were falling short of breath.

We examined them on the spot, delivered cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and mouth to mouth oxygen before hospitalisation.

They are now stable and will be discharged by Tuesday,” said Dr Tanvir Tahir, their family physician.