Dozens of residents in Hien Ninh commune in Quang Ninh
district of the Quang Binh province are struck by lightening annually. The
greatest wish of locals is to “drive away” lightning to live in peace.

Hien Ninh is called by local residents as the “thunderstruck commune”.
Thunderstruck not only kills and injure many people but also damages assets of
local people.

A local official named Nguyen Duc Hoa said that thunder strikes occurs very
often in Hien Ninh. Some days, the commune recorded tens of thunder strikes.
Normally, thunder strikes come with showers, but sometimes it comes in cloudless
sky.

Hoa said there are thousands of places in Hien Ninh which have been struck by
lightning. In recent years, dozens of locals were struck dead by lightning on
the road and in the field.

The most terrified thunder strike was the one in March 2011, which killed a man
on the spot. This man was sitting on an ox cart in the field when he was struck
by lightning. His ox was also carbonized. Another man sitting on the same ox
cart was injured seriously.

Locals described that thunder strike as the most strange case in Hien Ninh so
far. Lightning struck a field of several hectares repeatedly. The sky was
inky-black. Lightning made big holes in the field.

Hoang Van Thuyet – a victim of thunder strikes

The case of victim Hoang Van Thuyet is also very terrified but fortunately, he
is still alive. According to this man, while he and his wife were working in the
field on the afternoon of June 4 2011, the sky suddenly turned black and
lightning hit to the field.

The couple hurriedly ran away from the field but it was too late. Thuyet was
struck and thrown out for 20 meters by lightning. His wife was also bucked off.
They were thunderstruck the second time. The couple fainted.

The wife recovered first. She saw her husband lying on the field. The place
where he lied on was burnt. Thuyet’s clothes were torn into thousands of pieces.
His body was as cold as ice. The woman thought her husband was dead, so she
called for help.

A man nearby approached and gave first-aid. Around 20 minutes later, Thuyet got
warmer. He escaped death miraculously.

Thunder strikes also kills children. In 1992, a pupil was thunderstruck to death
while the sky was very clear. His body was burnt into coal.

According to local people, there are thousands of thunder strikes in this
commune annually. Whenever there is lightning, nobody dares to go to the road.
When then lightning ends, tens of television sets, CD players and electric wire
grids are damaged. Even trees in the commune are burnt into coal.

Some elderly people said lightning often strikes the field, especially the areas
which have many bomb craters.

“We only wish to work in the field without being threatened by lightening. In
the past, fields in Hien Ninh had many bombs and explosives. I think competent
agencies need to make studies to know why our commune is always struck by
lightning like this,” Hoa said.

VTCN