16-year-old knocked out by lightning while playing on phone

Hit by lightning while playing with a phone during a thunderstorm? This sounds like a movie plot, but it really happened.

According to Xiaoxiang Morning News, on the afternoon of March 22, Changsha, Hunan, recently experienced frequent thunderstorms. A 16-year-old Li Yu (pseudonym) was hit by a lightning strike while playing video games and was knocked out.

He was rushed to the hospital by his family and was diagnosed with "electrical injury and sensorineural hearing loss" upon examination.

The doctor at Changsha Central Hospital said that the patient was struck by lightning while wearing headphones at home while playing with a mobile phone and suffered a syncope on the spot. After waking up, I felt pain in my ears.

"We advised him to deal with pain and so on. Later the patient felt much better and went back."

Why do you get struck by lightning when you play mobile phones at home?

At around three o'clock in the afternoon on March 22, when there was a heavy rain and thunder and lightning, Li Yu wanted to relax and leaned on the iron gate wearing headphones to play mobile games.

Suddenly a lightning flashed, and a thunderstorm struck him. Subsequently, Li Yu fainted on the spot and the phone was also destroyed.

Li Yu consciously recovered after a few minutes, but developed symptoms of headache, earache, tinnitus, and hearing loss. He was rushed to the emergency department of Changsha Central Hospital affiliated to Nanhua University.

After preliminary examination, Li Yu's vital signs were stable and there was no traumatic brain injury. After consultation with Gong Wei, the chief physician of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Li Yu's bilateral external auditory canal was slightly red and swollen, the tympanic acute congestion, and mild sensorineural hearing loss in both ears. The diagnosis was "shock injury, sensorineural hearing loss".

The doctor reminded that you should stay away from electrical appliances and metal objects at home during a thunderstorm. Be careful not to play with your mobile phone outdoors, you should find an empty and safe place to avoid in time.