A soccer match ended in tragedy in Indonesia after one of the players was struck by lightning. The incident occurred during a friendly match between local clubs Bandung and Subang.
The match took place at the first team’s home stadium in West Java on Saturday 10 February. There was bad weather in Bandung that day — it was raining heavily, but the game was not cancelled. About halfway through the match, lightning struck the field and directly hit the 34-year-old football player, whose name has not been released. He lost consciousness, the other players helped carry him to the premises under the stands.
A man was struck by lightning. He lost consciousness, and when he woke up, he received a second blow. What happened to him?
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The man was rushed to a local hospital, where doctors tried to revive him. However, all attempts were unsuccessful, and he died without regaining consciousness.
The tragedy was captured on video made by eyewitnesses — the video instantly went viral on social networks. It shows the moment the lightning strikes and how the player falls onto the grass. Due to the impact, his T‑shirt was torn to shreds.
Football fans from all over the world express their condolences to the family of the deceased. Some online commentators pointed out that the referee should have stopped the game due to unfavorable weather conditions. “When I worked as a football referee, I always kept an eye on the weather — I think it’s written down in the FIFA manual.”wrote one of them.
By the way, this is not the only such case in Indonesia in recent months. In 2023, a similar incident occurred during a youth team match in East Java: then a 13-year-old football player was struck by lightning. The teenager suffered cardiac arrest and was urgently taken to a hospital in Bohonegoro. Then the doctors managed to save the player’s life: they carried out resuscitation measures for 20 minutes, and the athlete came to his senses.
In addition, a similar story happened last December in Brazil. Then a 21-year-old player of an amateur team became a victim of a lightning strike, and several other athletes who were on the field received injuries of varying severity. All of them were hospitalized in hospitals, where they remained under medical supervision for several weeks.