The 15-year-old boy who was struck by lightning in Central Park mentioned he’s feeling “lucky” that the electrical shock solely left him with burns.
Highschool sophomore Yassin Khalifa informed ABC 7 Information from his hospital mattress that he was having fun with a picnic together with his pals within the park’s East Meadow Thursday afternoon once they noticed the black storm clouds roll in.
Khalifa mentioned he leaned up towards a tree to maintain out of the rain and instructed they “ride it out” — which, he admitted, “might not have been the best idea.”
A bolt of lightning struck the tree close to one hundred and first Avenue and fifth Avenue round 3:40 p.m., knocking him unconscious for a couple of minutes.
When he lastly got here to, he was in an ambulance dashing in the direction of New York Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Medical Heart.
He was handled for second-degree burns on his neck and leg — however the teenager realizes the harm may have been a lot worse.
“Apparently, I’m pretty lucky, because my spine was directly against the tree and no nerve damage happened,” Khalifa mentioned.
“So I’m like, not losing any sort of motor function. So I’m pretty happy about that.”
Some 40 million lightning strikes hit the bottom within the US yearly – however the possibilities of a person being struck is lower than one in 1,000,000, in keeping with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
There have been 444 People who have been struck by lightning between 2006 and 2021.
The survival charge is greater than 90%, the company mentioned.
