Three Killed by Lightning at Waterfall

MUKDAHAN : Lightning killed three tourists, including an Australian teacher, and injured three others at the scenic Tad Ton waterfall in Nong Sung district when a storm hit the area yesterday afternoon.
Two female Thai students, Supaporn Petcharat, 14, and Atchariya Wongwai, 17, and a teacher from Perth in Western Australia, Gregory Ian Crombie, 40, were killed, police said.
The injured, two teenage Australian students and Nongnut Tongmaha, a 17-year-old Thai, were rushed to the intensive care unit from Mukdahan hospital to Ubon Ratchathani, doctors said. They were to be airlifted to Bangkok for treatment.
Thongsom Paggangwaesang, 34, who led the group to the waterfall, said rain began to fall while they were swimming. Minutes later, many of those who were standing were hit by two thunderbolts and collapsed.
"Before the accident, I saw a tourist talking on a mobile phone near the group," recalled Mrs Thongsom, who was two metres away.
Mrs Thongsom, a resident of Maha Sarakham's Wapi Pathum district, is the sister-in-law of Crombie.
The teacher was the younger brother of Mrs Thongsom's Australian husband. She acted as a guide for the Australian group, taking them to the Indochina market in Mukdahan town and to the Tad Ton waterfall.
The group of Australians, consisting of three teachers and 13 students from Perth, had travelled to northern Thailand as part of a cultural exchange programme.

 

Source: BahtandSold