Lightning strikes three Hong Kong construction workers on Peak, all conscious when rushed to hospital
- The strike took place just after 10am, about two hours after the Observatory had issued a thunderstorm warning
- ‘One of the workers felt numbness in all four limbs after being hit,’ a police spokesman says
Three Hong Kong construction workers were injured when they were struck by lightning at a building site on The Peak on Friday, just hours after the Observatory issued a thunderstorm warning.
The men were struck as they monitored a crane lowering a metal pillar onto the Severn Road site shortly after 10am.
The thunderstorm warning, issued at 7.35am, was expected to last until 4.30pm.
According to the force, there was a loud crack of thunder before the lightning struck.
“One of the workers felt numbness in all four limbs after being hit by lightning,” a police spokesman said, adding the three had been conscious when taken to Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam for treatment.
Figures from the Hong Kong Observatory showed there were 29 cloud-to-ground and 159 cloud-to-cloud lightning strikes across the city between 9am and 11am.
The broad area of low pressure over the northeastern South China Sea also brought showers and thunderstorms to the coast of Guangdong province, according to the Observatory’s warning, with “isolated thunderstorms … expected to occur over Hong Kong”.
The weather service urged Hongkongers to “stay indoors” or “seek shelter in buildings if you are engaging in outdoor activities”, and to avoid high ground as well as “highly conductive objects, trees or masts”.
