A 35-year-old footballer from Subang tragically died after being struck by lightning during a match at Siliwangi Stadium in Bandung, West Java. The incident left his team-mates and fans in total shock.
Despite being rushed to the hospital while still breathing, the player passed away soon after. This is the second time in a year that an Indonesian footballer has been hit by lightning.
In another incident, a young player in Bojonegoro, East Java, suffered a cardiac arrest after being struck during the Soeratin U-13 Cup in 2023. While such incidents are incredibly rare, over 25 years ago, an entire team was killed by lightning in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The country features five times in the world’s top 10 hotspots for average lightning strikes per year. In a tragic incident back in October 1998, an entire football team was wiped out by a freak lightning strike while playing a match in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Bena Tshadi were drawing 1-1 with visitors Basanga in the Kasai province when the sky unleashed its fury. According to the daily newspaper L’Avenir in Kinshasa, “Lightning killed at a stroke 11 young people aged between 20 and 35 years during a football match.”
