July 21, 2008 at 15:36Mobile phones have increased mortality from lightning in Russia
Dozens of Russians have been killed or maimed by lightning over the past two weeks. Such a high mortality rate cannot be explained by the especially bad weather that is observed this summer (for example, in Moscow this month precipitation fell 139% above normal). According to Leonid Tarkov, a specialist from the Phobos weather center, the real reason for the high mortality rate is the high popularity of gadgets. Almost all victims of lightning are young people who almost constantly touch their heads with electronic devices turned on: telephones and players.
Last Wednesday, lightning killed three vacationers on the beach in Neftekamsk. According to witnesses, the discharge hit directly the 26-year-old Marina Sadykova, who at that moment was talking on her cell phone. Arriving doctors confirmed eyewitnesses: they found a molten cell phone in her hand.
Similar cases occur throughout Russia: near Moscow, lightning killed a ten-year-old boy who was riding a bicycle and talking on the phone. In the central region, a summer resident was killed with a mobile phone in her hand, which lightning caught right on the beds with tomatoes.
It should be noted that the theory of the attraction of lightning to a weak electromagnetic field, which is created by a small gadget, is refuted by almost all scientists. At the same time, medical statistics show that the probability of death is much higher if the victim of a lightning strike has any object containing metal parts on his body.
via CNN
Last Wednesday, lightning killed three vacationers on the beach in Neftekamsk. According to witnesses, the discharge hit directly the 26-year-old Marina Sadykova, who at that moment was talking on her cell phone. Arriving doctors confirmed eyewitnesses: they found a molten cell phone in her hand.Similar cases occur throughout Russia: near Moscow, lightning killed a ten-year-old boy who was riding a bicycle and talking on the phone. In the central region, a summer resident was killed with a mobile phone in her hand, which lightning caught right on the beds with tomatoes.
It should be noted that the theory of the attraction of lightning to a weak electromagnetic field, which is created by a small gadget, is refuted by almost all scientists. At the same time, medical statistics show that the probability of death is much higher if the victim of a lightning strike has any object containing metal parts on his body.
via CNN