A 20-year-old man in Noida lost his life after being struck by lightning and his mobile exploded while he was on a call.
The victim, Gautam Bhartiya, hails from Mohalla Rawatia, Jewar, in Greater Noida.
His family was taken by surprise at the news. They said he had gone to visit the farm and was caught in the rain. He did not show up that night.
Jewar police station in-charge said he had seen Gautam in a hut in the farm to escape the rain. He also noticed that Gautam was wearing his headphones while in the hut and talking.
The next morning, a few neighbours fetching fodder passed by the hut to find Gautam dead. His ears and mouth were bleeding and he was severely scorched.
The police sent the body for post-mortem. It is believed that lightning struck the phone while Gautam was on a call, leading to a blas
Purushottam, Gautam’s brother, said they had tried to look for him overnight. Gautam got married only recently, during the lockdown seven months ago.
The tragedy left his wife in dire straits.
Experts have previously said that mobile phones being wireless do not conduct electricity nor are they likely to attract lightning.
According to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski, it is the place of your location that matters when a lightning strikes and the use of the mobile is irrelevant.
Confirming this is a 2013 Stanford paper that studied lightning effect on cellphones. It concluded that it is less likely for a mobile to conduct lightning and that lightning strike is more dependent on relative heights and the material objects in the surrounding environment.
Nonetheless, the police said they would investigate the case.
