Young girl struck in the head by lightning stays alive

Lighting struck the 16-year-old Marina Matygina as she was running to pick up her clothes scattered on a meadow. On that fateful day, Marina and her girlfriend Anya were sunbathing on the lakeside near the village of Severka, Ekaterinburg region. Marina wore a cross hanging on a golden chain around her neck. The cross evaporated after the thunderbolt hit the girl’s head.

Photo: Young girl struck in the head by lightning stays alive

“Anya was swimming in the lake, and I was sitting under a tree when the thunderstorm began. The lightning must have struck me while I was rushing to pick up our clothes left on a nearby meadow. I don’t remember much how it happened. I remember that I said to my girlfriend: ‘I feel sick’ before passing out. Then the blackness fell over me.”

Marina came around in an ambulance. The girl could feel an acute pain in her body, but she couldn’t tell where exactly it hurt her. Marina’s girlfriend Anya was also struck by lighting. Fortunately, she sustained minimum damage.

“I was running for cover as the rain started. The sound of thunder was so loud, my ears plugged up. I remember the bright flash making me completely blind. The next thing I remember is the grass I was lying on. I felt completely numb at the beginning. In a while I managed to crawl to the place where we left our clothes. I took a cell phone and called my parents. The boys who happened to be nearby helped me and Marina into their car and rushed us to hospital,” says Anya.

The lightning hit Marina’s head in the temple area, it pierced through her trunk right to the exit spot next to her navel. The golden chain with the cross literally evaporated, leaving a deep burn on the neck and chest. According to the doctors, the temperature of the spark could be several thousand degrees Celsius. The doctors do not know how the girl managed to survive the accident. It must be a miracle. The girl felt paralyzed down her waist for a few hours. Fortunately, Marina could walk again on the next morning.

Marina still receives treatment at the neurosurgical department of Ekaterinburg’s hospital No 23. Stanislav Chursin, head of the department, says that the girl is mostly treated for the burns on her neck. “Her treatment includes prescribed medications, drips, and injections. All the above should speed up the healing of tissues damaged by electricity. Marina’s general condition is okay, her heart functions perfectly though the heart normally stops beating shortly after a person is struck by lightning. The case of Marina is, without doubt, unique. Just a handful of people in different countries have survived the lightning strike. Incidentally, all the survivors later developed some supernatural powers, either psychic or telepathic. Marina is expected to be discharged from our hospital in two weeks. Please take her telephone number so that we could keep track of the girl with the help of Komsomolskaya Pravda,” says Chursin.

Please follow the recommendations below in order to prevent damage caused by lightning: 

- Close all the windows and upper ventilation panes during the thunderstorm 

- Disconnect electric appliances and the outside TV aerial cable from the mains 

- Do not touch grounded objects e.g. radiators 

- If you are in the open when it starts to lightning, seek cover under the overhang of a building’s roof but do not lean against the wall 

- If you travel by car or bus, stay inside the vehicle until the thunderstorm abates. Do not forget to roll up the windows and keep the doors shut 

- Refrain from using your cell phone during thunderstorm. The cell phone is thought to attract lightning 

- Do not seek cover under the solitary trees, do not lean against the rocks 

- Change location if you happen to be on a meadow or top of a hill 

- Keep away from a body of water

Bear in mind that only the few can survive the lightning strike. According to guidelines by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, a survivor of a lightning accident should be promptly undressed, his head should be moistened with cold water, and his body should be wrapped in wet cloth. Needless to say, you should call the ambulance ASAP.

Komsomolskaya Pravda

Translated by Guerman Grachev
Pravda.Ru