Lightning kills Maha man talking on mobile phone

A 22-year-old man Saturday died after being struck by lightning while talking on a mobile phone in Maharashtra's Akola district, police said.

An official said Abhijit Srikrishna Ingle (22), a resident of Waghjali village in Barshitakali taluka here, was standing under a tree to protect himself from rain when the incident happened at around 4pm.

"One more person is injured due to lightning. Ingle was speaking on his mobile phone," he said.

Experts have routinely debunked as urban myth the claim that mobile phones attract lightning, stressing that somebody increases their risk of being struck in an electrical storm if they are on high ground, open space, near water or near large metallic structures or trees.

Telecom researchers claim mobile phones are low power devices, with handsets generally having insignificant amounts of metal, and do not possess characteristics which could attract lightning.