Plantation worker killed by lightning bolt in Bukidnon

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A laborer died instantly after he was struck by lightning while working in a pineapple plantation in Sumilao town in Bukidnon province on Thursday, June 11.

Local executives in Sumilao and officials of the Bukidnon Provincial Police Office separately told reporters on Sunday that the male victim was piling newly-harvested pineapples at the cargo deck of a truck, while it was drizzling in the area, when he was hit by a powerful lightning bolt, causing his immediate death.

They withheld the name of the victim on the behest of his family.

Radio reports in Cotabato City on Sunday quoted local officials as saying that co-workers of the victim found him lying unconscious on top of the pineapples piled on the cargo deck of the truck.

He was declared dead on arrival at a hospital where emergency responders from the local government unit of Sumilao brought him for treatment.

The hinterland of Bukidnon province, which has 20 municipalities and two cities, is touted as the “pineapple capital of Region 10.