10 people, all hiding under a tree during thunderstorm

[Darth Wong]

Yes, it's possible for a group of 10 people to join together in stupidity, all hiding under the tallest object in the area during a thunderstorm. Not one of them apparently recognized the danger until it was too late.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/16 ... etail.html

4 Critical After 10 Hit By Lightning At Soccer Game
Victims Were Attending Soccer Game

BOSTON -- Four people remain in critical condition after a bolt of lightning struck 10 men watching a soccer game at Boston's Franklin Field Sunday afternoon.

The men had taken cover under a tree at the edge of the soccer field near Talbot Avenue about 3:30 p.m. when a thunderstorm approached. A sudden bolt of lightning knocked them all unconscious.

"They all just dropped. Boom," one witness said.

All of the victims were males suffering burns consistent with lightning strikes. The youngest was 12 and the oldest was a man in his 40s. Boston police said two men suffered heart attacks and were taken to Boston Medical Center. The boy suffered burns and was admitted to Children's Hospital.

"They were all laying down, so it was a very terrible scene," another witness said.

Emergency workers administered CPR and all the victims were taken to area hospitals. All were expected to survive.

The sudden afternoon thunderstorm lit up the sky with lightning and drenched the Boston area, triggering street flooding in some places as nearly an inch of rain fell in less than an hour.

Officials said the victims were attending the Salvadoran soccer league’s regular Sunday game and if it had been called as soon as the rain started more people might have been huddled beneath the tree.

["The victims] sought the quickest shelter, but unfortunately, lightning strikes the tallest object, and that was the tallest tree in the area," Michael Bosse, an EMS deputy supervisor, said at a news conference at Boston Medical Center.

Bosse said in 27 years on the job he has never seen 10 people hit by lightning at once.

On average, about 400 people are struck by lightning every year, according to the National Weather Service. Most experts say to avoid standing under trees during lightning storms.

Seriously, how can so many people not see the problem here?

[Admiral Valdemar]

Remember that incident in Mexico that was similarly stupid? I think we just got our North American equivalent.

Humans are quite into the herd mentality from everything to do with shopping to politics. It's not all that surprising that a bunch went and did this, though I'm having trouble imagining not one of them doubted this excellent plan of sitting under the nearest lightning conductor. They never see pictures of trees carbonised by thunderbolts?

[General Zod]

Remember that incident in Mexico that was similarly stupid? I think we just got our North American equivalent.

The one where a bunch of idiots gathered under a massive metallic cross in a lightning storm? That was the first thing I thought of when I read this.

[xerex]

unfortunately, lightning strikes the tallest object, and that was the tallest tree in the area

you'd be surprised how many people dont know this.

i'm also sure they associated tree= wood= non conductor and tree= shelter from rain.

[Darth Wong]

Remember that incident in Mexico that was similarly stupid? I think we just got our North American equivalent.

Humans are quite into the herd mentality from everything to do with shopping to politics. It's not all that surprising that a bunch went and did this, though I'm having trouble imagining not one of them doubted this excellent plan of sitting under the nearest lightning conductor. They never see pictures of trees carbonised by thunderbolts?

Especially a tree at the edge of a nice big wide flat soccer field.

[Zadius]

This is something I was specifically taught as a kid, along with "stop drop and roll."

[Raw Shark]

Remember that incident in Mexico that was similarly stupid? I think we just got our North American equivalent.

Mexico is in North America.

[The Guid]

Maybe they figured it would hit the tree and not them. Not a lot of people realise that it doesn't have to be a direct hit to fuck you up.

[Solauren]

Sounds like more people need to take a walk through the local park after a lightning storm.

I've seen 50+ foot trees literally split in half by a lightning bolt, and there was alot of evidence the effects spread out from the tree.

i.e Dead Squirrels, dead mice, dead birds.

[tim31]

A tree? They're lucky it didn't explode!

Mexico is in North America.

And here I was thinking it was part of Central America.

[Jaepheth]

It seems lightning is always happening "somewhere else" so I'm thinking they weren't even considering the lightning, only the rain.

It's one of those things that you never think will happen to you and so you become blind to the danger and thus increase the chances of it happening to you. Sort of like how crazy dictators are always "some other country's" problem, that couldn't possibly happen here, to us!

[Andrew_Fireborn]

Aye, combination stupidity and "Bad things only happen to other people" syndrome.


As for Mexico... It's the North American end of the Central America region... Though I don't think too many would argue that it isn't -part- of North America... Unless you want to say it ends at Texas.

[cosmicalstorm]

Im sure someone recognized the danger, but the fear of being called a pussy probably overwon the fear of lightning wich as others have already pointed out only "happens to other people".

[Rogue 9]

A tree? They're lucky it didn't explode!

That's what I was coming in here to say. A tree can and will go off like a fragmentation bomb when struck by lightning; I've seen chunks of a lightning-struck tree lodged right through other large trees in the area after lightning storms before. They're lucky they weren't all impaled.

[chitoryu12]

This is something I was specifically taught as a kid, along with "stop drop and roll."

You're also taught not to smoke, drive drunk, or do drugs. You forget how stupid humans can be when it comes to common sense.

[FSTargetDrone]

Not standing under a tree is one of those things I assumed was just sort of common knowledge, passed on by parents to children. Sort of like "look both ways before you cross the street" and "wash your hands after using the bathroom."

Clearly I am mistaken.

Really though, it's not surprising. People Are Stupid.

[KlavoHunter]

One of the trees behind my mother's place was struck by lightning, and it wasn't -just- the tree that got zapped - stuff over 30, 40 feet away was messed up as well, such as the rope-lights all along the deck, a power outlet on the outside of the house, and even the router for their network. A completely, utterly random amount of destruction.

[MKSheppard]

Seriously, how can so many people not see the problem here?

Perhaps because they were never taught to stay away from trees in thunderstorms?

I think this clinched it Officials said the victims were attending the Salvadoran soccer league’s regular Sunday game.

The local Park Police station where I take my doggies for their walks is during the spring and summer weekends, almost always crowded with some soccer game or another -- and they usually trash the field afterwards with crap.

[Enigma]

Seriously, how can so many people not see the problem here?

Perhaps because they were never taught to stay away from trees in thunderstorms?

I think this clinched it Officials said the victims were attending the Salvadoran soccer league’s regular Sunday game.

The local Park Police station where I take my doggies for their walks is during the spring and summer weekends, almost always crowded with some soccer game or another -- and they usually trash the field afterwards with crap.

I take it you are not a sports fan? So they are stupid because they watched or played soccer?

[MKSheppard]

I take it you are not a sports fan? So they are stupid because they watched or played soccer?

Who's going to be at a Salvadorian League game, Genius?

[Ender]

Shit, my DOG has the good sense to run in the house and hide in the basement in the event of thunder.

[Darth Raptor]

And here I was thinking it was part of Central America.

It's both. Central America is part of North America.

[Robert Treder]

Perhaps because they were never taught to stay away from trees in thunderstorms?

I think this clinched it Officials said the victims were attending the Salvadoran soccer league’s regular Sunday game.

The local Park Police station where I take my doggies for their walks is during the spring and summer weekends, almost always crowded with some soccer game or another -- and they usually trash the field afterwards with crap.

Are you saying that you don't expect latinos to have heard of lightning striking tall objects?

[MKSheppard]

Are you saying that you don't expect latinos to have heard of lightning striking tall objects?

I'm saying that I don't expect people from turd world countries to have learnt the same basic safety rules drilled into us at childhood.

[Vendetta]

Are you saying that you don't expect latinos to have heard of lightning striking tall objects?

No. Shep is saying he thinks brown people are stupid. It's one of his little foibles.