Six full-time national servicemen (NSF) were hurt when a bolt of
lightning hit the hill they were training on in Marsiling last
week. The men were participating in a training excercise under a
shelter during the time.
The NSFs, who were undergoing training to become officers, took
shelter under a tree from rain at the time when the exercise was
temporarily suspended, according to a Straits Times
report.
Mostly in their late teens, the cadets were taking part in a
platoon field-defence mission which required them to capture the
top of the hill and set up chest-deep bunkers there to protect
themselves against the “enemy”. Defence Ministry spokesman Darius
Lim said the excercise was “temporarily suspended due to inclement
weather”.
Colonel Lim said the injured cadets were immediately tended
to by medics on site and a military doctor at the Singapore
Armed Forces (SAF) Medical Centre. One officer cadet was released
at the medical centre while the other five were sent to hospital
for “further medical checks”, he said.
According to Col Lim, all six cadets were granted medical leave.
Five have resumed training this week while a sixth will join the
rest next week. One of the cadets now has hearing
difficulties.
“The SAF has investigated the incident and has found that the
unit had adhered to the stipulated training safety requirements,”
Col Lim added.
This incident comes as no surprise as Singapore has one of the
highest rates of lightning activity in the world. The hot and humid
weather is ideal for the formation of lightning-producing
storm clouds.
The
National Environment Agency (NEA) revealed that 0.35 deaths
were recorded for every one million people here between 2000 and
2003. Also between 1982 and last year, the NEA detected lightning
on an average of 186 days a year.
According to lightning expert Liew Ah Choy of
National University of Singapore’s (NUS) electrical and
computer engineering department, when lightning hits the ground,
its voltage spreads.
“When someone has two feet on the ground, the difference in
voltages will push the current through the legs into the body and
electrocute the person,” he said. A person standing up to 100m away
from where the lightning current enters the ground may also be
electrocuted.
Direct lightning hits are fatal. Nearly 200,000 amps of
electricity, enough to power half a million 100W lightbulbs,
will course through the person’s body. This can burst blood
vessels, stop the heart and even leave burn marks.
Mr Soh Lye Huat, 57,
experienced a direct hit at Tanah Merah Country Club
last October. He died two weeks later from multiple organ
failure.
While there is little we can do to stop lightning, we can take
precautions to avoid being hit:
1) Don’t stay out in any open areas like fields, golf
courses, or parking lots.
2) Stay away from all forms of metal
3) Stop swimming and get away from water
4) Don’t stand under tall objects like trees of towers
