There was a tragic scene at an Indonesian soccer match on Saturday as Septain Raharja was struck by lightning and later died of his injuries in hospital.
A video captured the exact moment that the 35-year-old was struck. He was from Subang and collapsed at Siliwangi Stadium in Bandung, West Java.
Raharja was competing in a friendly football match between 2 FLO FC Bandung and FBI Subang, when lightning struck him at around 4:20pm local time on Saturday.
Reports by local media PRFM News said that he was actually still breathing in the immediate aftermath of the strike and was rushed to the local hospital for treatment.
Tributes pour in
He was not able to be saved, though, and later passed away. Tributes have poured in from the footballing community after such tragic news.
“RIP to that player,” commented one X user.
“This is the stuff of my nightmares. I lived through the San Francisco ‘Quake of ’89’ that ended game 3 of the Baseball World Series,” wrote another.
A third said: “That’s awful and condolences. In my referee days I always kept an eye on the weather, it’s in the FIFA manual I believe. For exactly this reason. Don’t know if that was possible here or if there was a ref. This video will make it’s way to FIFA and ref associations everywhere.”
Incredibly, this is actually the second time in the last 12 months that a player has been struck by lightning in Indonesia.
In the other instance, it was an U13 player who did manage to survive, but only after suffering a cardiac arrest and losing consciousness for 20 minutes.