DUNGUN: Two men on a fishing expedition were injured when lightning struck their fibreglass boat off the Terengganu coast early yesterday morning.
The incident, which occurred during a violent storm, left both men with injuries to the eyes and ears, while the boat's engine was damaged.
"The third and strongest strike hit the rear of the boat, piercing through the roof and damaging the engine," said Mohd Rozila Omar, 41, one of the injured anglers.
"The skipper and I were sitting under that roof — the lightning's flash injured both of us in the eyes and caused internal bleeding in both ears. I also lost movement in my right arm.
"If it hadn't been for the roof, I don't know what would have happened to the skipper and me," he added.
Rozila and four others — the skipper Ibrahim, 55, and three men aged between 35 and 80 — had been fishing 25 nautical miles off the Terengganu coast near Kuala Paka when the storm hit around 2am.
"While we were fishing at around 2am, a storm and large waves began battering our boat, causing it to rock violently.
"We decided to return immediately, but the boat couldn't speed up due to the rough sea," Rozila said from his hospital bed in Dungun.
As the storm raged on, the men feared for their lives.
"We all thought we were going to die," he said, recalling how his crewmates bailed water and dropped anchor while waiting for the weather to clear.
They were eventually rescued by a passing fishing boat at around 7am and brought safely to shore.
Rozila is being treated in Dungun Hospital, while the skipper was transferred to Kemaman Hospital for further care. - NST
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