53 pigs struck by lightning to death in china

At around 11 a.m. on July 6, a lightning hit the roof of a pig barn in the suburb of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and ripped open a 4-meter long crack. 53 pigs staying inside the barn were instantaneously killed by the lightning strike.

While most people expressed their sympathy for the pig farmer’s loss, some entertained doubt: how can so many pigs be killed by one lightning strike? Is it an insurance fraud committed by the pig farmer to receive payment for damages?

The pig farmer, in reply to such speculations, said that none of the 200 pigs she had been raising was even insured, so there is no motive for an insurance fraud. She said she was feeding piglets in the pigpen three meters away from the barn, and the 53 pigs killed were sleeping after having had a full meal, when the lightning struck. “After a streak of blue light flashed by, I heard pigs’ scream. Then they all froze

An engineer at the lightning protection center said that from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on that day, Shenzhen experienced 188 recorded lightning bolts, the largest carrying 110,000 ampere, which is more than enough to kill a human being or an animal.