AN eight-year-old boy suffered burns on most of his body after being struck by lightning in Kampung Permatang Kerisek in Perlis last night.
Kangar assistant police commissioner Yusharifuddin Mohd Yusop said Muhamad Azizul Jaafar and his mother, Nor Lelawati Abu Bakar, 39, were walking home from a neighbour’s house when they were struck at 7pm.
He said Nor Lelawati did not suffer any injuries but was traumatised.
“It happened when it was raining. The boy’s mother came out of their house to pick up her (other) son from a neighbour’s house,” he said in a statement today.
Yusharifuddin said the victim was being treated at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar.
Nor Lelawati reportedly said she felt like she was being kicked in the back, and fell forward after being struck.
She said she and Azizul were walking home after picking up her other child, a 15-year-old disabled boy, from the neighbour’s house less than 50m away.
“The three of us were about to go home and when we were passing through the path between some trees when I was suddenly pushed forward, as if hit by a heavy object from behind.
“I felt very hot before passing out,” she was quoted as saying by Harian Metro.
“I only saw Azizul also fall unconscious nearby while my other son tried to shake me awake,” she said
After the incident, her eldest son alerted her husband, Jaafar Saidin, 65, and several workers near her house.
“I was unconscious until I was in my husband’s car to Tuanku Fauziah Hospital in Kangar.
“I was told Azizul, who was taken in another car, was unconscious and almost his entire body was burnt, but fortunately he was breathing again on the way to the hospital,” he said.
Nor Lelawati was confirmed to have only suffered some shock without any serious injuries while her son suffered burns on his body, especially around the neck, abdomen, and left leg.
Azizul was put under as his injuries were severe, before being transferred to Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital for examination by a dermatologist early this morning.
Azizul is now in stable condition while Nor Lelawati said she still has some chest pain. – The Vibes, December 5, 2023.
