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Lightning kills football team
All 11 members of a football team were killed by a bolt of lightning which left the other team unhurt, a Congolese newspaper has reported.
Thirty other people received burns at the match in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kinshasa daily newspaper L'Avenir said local opinion - known to believe in charms and spells - was divided over whether someone had cursed the team.
The two sides were drawing 1-1 in the match in eastern Kasai Province when the lightning struck the visiting team.
"The athletes from [the home team] Basanga curiously came out of this catastrophe unscathed," the paper said.
There was no official confirmation of the report - a rebel war affects much of the east of the country.
The first strike
In a similar incident at the weekend, a premier league soccer match in Johannesburg was brought to an abrupt end when lightning struck the ground.
Half the players from both teams - the Jomo Cosmos and the Moroka Swallows - dropped to the turf.
Several writhed on the grass holding their ears and their eyes. Spectators and coaching staff ran onto the pitch to help. Fortunately no-one was killed.
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I wouldn't be surprised if many people will accuse the surviving team of having used witchcraft to eliminate the team that was killed. This kind of belief and superstition is not only rife in Africa, it is deeply rooted in the cultures of Africa. I myself witnessed some pretty strange things and phenomena during my many visits to Kenya which still leave me wondering... All 11 members of a football team were killed by a bolt of lightning which left the other team unhurt, a Congolese newspaper has repor... more -
Gadgets blamed as lightning strikes dozens
Lightning has killed and injured more than a dozen people in Russia in the past two weeks, officials say, blaming widespread use of electronic gadgets such as cell phones for an increase in deadly strikes.
On Wednesday, a lightning bolt killed three sunbathers in the town of Neftekamsk, 800 miles east of Moscow.
One victim, Marina Sadykova, 26, was among a few people on a beach along the Kama River when a storm moved in. Witnesses said they saw a sharp, blinding ray of light that raised 7.6 meters (25 feet) of sand.
The woman -- mother of a 5-month-old boy -- was talking on a cell phone when she was killed, and the phone was found melted in her hand, according to police.
Russian media have reported similar instances across central Russia, including the death of a 10-year-old boy on a bike, a young man talking on a cell phone and an elderly farmer tending her potato plants.
Leonid Tarkov of the weather observation center FOBOS said he believes that the surge in lightning strikes may be connected to the increased use of portable electronic technology, such as cellular phones or music players. Lightning has killed and injured more than a dozen people in Russia in the past two weeks, officials say, blaming widespread use of el... more -
Lightning bolt captured
Science: "A Lichtenberg figure being created by a tap from a nail. In just a few hundred nanoseconds, electrons trapped in plastic exit suddenly as a bright, branching spark."
Me: "It's purdy" Science: "A Lichtenberg figure being created by a tap from a nail. In just a few hundred nanoseconds, electrons trapped in plasti... more -
Seagal: FBI mafia claims killed my career
someone needs to rein in this rogue agency before it deprives the moviegoing public of even more of the entertainment and art we so desperately crave.... someone needs to rein in this rogue agency before it deprives the moviegoing public of even more of the entertainment and art we so de... more
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Lightning Bolt
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Lightning Bolt
