CatoCooper13
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2003
- Messages
- 6,441
- Reaction score
- 5
Thursday, July 29, 2004
AFP - Mobile-phone-induced lightning injured fifteen tourists on a section of China's Great Wall, state media and officials said.
The accident happened at the Juyongguan part of the Wall, located 50km from Beijing when an elderly visitor's mobile phone acted as a lightning rod as he made a call, the China Daily reported.
Of the fifteen people who were injured and hospitalised all were Chinese except a Slovenian national who was rushed to the Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital in Beijing.
"He felt a little dizzy, but he's been discharged now," a hospital official told AFP.
Following the freak accident, management at the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall decided to immediately put up boards telling visitors to turn off their mobile phones when lightning occurs.
Security personnel have also been instructed to order people to switch off their mobiles on rainy days, an official at the Juyongguan Management Office told AFP.
advertisement
The risk of mobile phones doubling as lightning rods has recently emerged as a public hazard in China.
According to reports, a woman in northeast Changchun city was struck by lightning last month after using her mobile phone in bad weather.
"The electromagnetic waves emitted by mobile phones are quite good conductors of electricity," said Liu Shuhua, a professor at the Atmospheric Science Department of Peking University.
In particular, Liu strongly advised against using mobile phones near petrol stations during thunderstorms.
©AAP 2004
Great scott! We'd have to be more careful when utilising a mobile (cell) phone outside during a lightning storm!
AFP - Mobile-phone-induced lightning injured fifteen tourists on a section of China's Great Wall, state media and officials said.
The accident happened at the Juyongguan part of the Wall, located 50km from Beijing when an elderly visitor's mobile phone acted as a lightning rod as he made a call, the China Daily reported.
Of the fifteen people who were injured and hospitalised all were Chinese except a Slovenian national who was rushed to the Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital in Beijing.
"He felt a little dizzy, but he's been discharged now," a hospital official told AFP.
Following the freak accident, management at the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall decided to immediately put up boards telling visitors to turn off their mobile phones when lightning occurs.
Security personnel have also been instructed to order people to switch off their mobiles on rainy days, an official at the Juyongguan Management Office told AFP.
advertisement
The risk of mobile phones doubling as lightning rods has recently emerged as a public hazard in China.
According to reports, a woman in northeast Changchun city was struck by lightning last month after using her mobile phone in bad weather.
"The electromagnetic waves emitted by mobile phones are quite good conductors of electricity," said Liu Shuhua, a professor at the Atmospheric Science Department of Peking University.
In particular, Liu strongly advised against using mobile phones near petrol stations during thunderstorms.
©AAP 2004
Great scott! We'd have to be more careful when utilising a mobile (cell) phone outside during a lightning storm!
