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Golfer killed by lightning at club. Researcher says it was.. ‘Sheer bad luck’
 LIGHTNING flashed across the sky, alternating with loud claps of thunder.
So the group of four friends decided to cut short their game and leave the golf course that Sunday morning. But not before they finished playing the 17th hole.
Fifteen minutes later, one of them was struck by lightning.
Mr Soh Lye Huat, 57, a garment company owner,was hit on the back of his head.
His friends, who were unhurt, were thrown to the ground.
Mr Soh died in hospital on Nov 4 last year, 10 days after the incident.
The cause of death was multi-organ failure due to brain damage that was caused by a lack of oxygen and blood flow.
Yesterday, State Coroner Kessler Soh recorded a verdict of misadventure in the case.
Why was Mr Soh hit but not his three friends who were nearby?
Sheer bad luck, said lightning expert Emeritus Professor Mat Darveniza. Mr Soh was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The professor, from the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at the University of Queensland, has spent 50 years doing research on lightning protection.
What makes a person more susceptible to being struck by lightning? Does wearing or holding a metallic object or a person’s height increase the odds of being hit?
Not at all, Prof Darveniza told The New Paper over the phone from Brisbane, Australia. “(Not) unless you’re holding a golf club above your head. The human body conducts electricity very easily.”
A lightning strike does not always cause death. The fatality rate is four out of 10. But those who survive are “severely injured”.
One of Mr Soh’s toes on his left foot had a greyish white mark, and this was where the current had exited his body. He also had other lightning marks on his body – two lines of brown skin discolouration measuring 6cm and 4.5cm long on his right thigh and a burn mark on his upper back.
So how can one lower one’s chances of being struck when outdoors?
30-30 rule
Observe the 30-30 rule, Prof Darveniza said. “When the time between seeing the flash of the lightning and hearing the thunder is less than 30 seconds, you’re in a hazardous position,” he said. You should immediately go to “a safe place such as a substantial building or a vehicle”.
After the thunderstorm has passed, wait another 30 minutes before venturing out.
Paying heed to this rule would minimise one’s chances of being struck to less than one per cent, the professor said.
Mr Soh was hit at the Garden Course of Tanah Merah Country Club on Changi Coast Road around 10.10am on Oct 25 last year.
Mr Soh had booked the game of golf and met his friends there at 8am.
Soon after they reached the 17th hole around 9.55am, they saw flashes of lightning and heard the crash of thunder.
But the club’s siren signalling a lightning alert did not go off, and they decided to complete the hole. Mr Soh was the last golfer to putt his golf ball into the 17th hole green.
The group then started preparing to return to the clubhouse. Two of his friends
walked to the buggy.
Another friend picked up the flag pin and placed it back in the 17th hole.
Mr Soh made his way back to his golf trolley, parked at the edge of the green.
It was at this point that Mr Soh’s friends heard a loud “bang” and were thrown to the ground.
When they got to their feet, they found Mr Soh lying face down on the ground at the edge of the 17th hole green.
Blood was flowing out of his mouth and his eyes were closed.
The back of his cap was shredded. Mr Soh is survived by his 51-year-old wife,
a son and a daughter.
Why wasn’t defibrillator used?
WHY was an automated external defibrillator (AED) not used on Mr Soh Lye Huat immediately after he was struck?
Yesterday, the court heard that the AED, a life-saving portable device that delivers an electric shock to restore the heart to its normal rhythm, was taken to the scene of the incident by two club employees who responded to the call for help.
But they did not use the AED as they detected a “weak pulse” on Mr Soh when they checked his neck and right wrist.
The court was told that the employees were adhering to the club’s golf operation first aid action plan, which states that the AED should be used only when there is no breathing or pulse felt.
One of the employees performed cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on Mr Soh. But one of Mr Soh’s friends, who had checked his pulse shortly before the club’s employees arrived on the scene, could not detect any pulse on him, the court heard.
By the time he was taken to Changi General Hospital 40 minutes after he was hit, Mr Soh was found to be in asystolic cardiac arrest, a condition in which the heart stops beating and comes to a standstill.
The investigation quoted two experts. Dr Teo Eng Swee, a senior consultant at the Forensic Medicine Division of the Health Sciences Authority, said an AED would not be of any use in a patient who has asystolic cardiac arrest.
Professor V Anantharaman, chairman of the Singapore Heart Foundation Heart Safe Committee, also said that the use of an AED is “not warranted for immediate treatment” when the patient is breathing or a pulse is present.
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