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Soccer player dies after being struck by lightning during game
By Scott Thompson
Published February 13, 2024
An Indonesian soccer player was killed after being struck by lightning during a soccer match Saturday.
Septain Raharja, a 35-year-old who plays for Football Boots Indonesia (FBI) Subang, was walking on the field when a bolt of lightning struck him at 4:20 p.m. during his match against 2 FLO FC Bandung, according to The Independent.
Video of the incident at Siliwangi Stadium showed Raharja immediately collapse to the turf and teammates running to him to help.
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A professional soccer goal mouth (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
Raharja was reportedly still breathing when he was first assessed, but he was later declared dead after being rushed to a hospital. TMZ Sports also reported Raharja had a severe burn following the lightning strike.
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It was the second time in the past year a player from Indonesia was struck by lightning.
A soccer goal crossbar. (Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)
Goal.com’s Richard Mills reports a young player in last year’s Soertain Under-13 Cup in Bojonegoro, East Java, was struck by lightning. However, the boy survived after being knocked unconscious.
In March 2004, 18-year-old Jiang Tao was killed during practice in Singapore, per The Independent. Tao was playing for Sinchi FC at the time.
Soccer balls in the second half of an international friendly soccer match between Nigeria and the United States Sept. 3, 2022, at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan. (Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Many soccer players paid their respects to Raharja after learning the horrible news under the team’s Instagram post honoring him. One of them was Uruguay’s Cristian Gonzales, who is a four-time Liga Indonesia top scorer.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/soccer-player-dies-after-being-struck-by-lightning-during-game