Lightning Strikes Football Match — Malaysian Player Injured, Thai Player Killed
A football match between SAM COLT FC and Abu Nong Sirin ended abruptly after lightning had injured 12 players, killing one.
- A lightning strike during a football match in Narathiwat, Thailand, killed Thai player Safwan Awe and injured 11 others.
- Malaysian player Mohammad Alif Ezzahan Zulkifli was among those injured, describing the strike as feeling like he had died.
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There are many good reasons to not play field sports on a stormy day, but perhaps the most important one is that there might be a chance that lightning wiill strike.
Lightning strikes the highest point in an area, and being in a football field would make you and anyone else on it most vulnerable.
This is the same reason why golf courses have sirens when the weather looks ugly, signalling players to stop the game and move indoors.
A football match ended in tragedy when a player was hit by lightning
In southern Thailand, specifically the Narathiwat district, a football game was in play when a tragedy struck after a flash of lightning hit Thai player Safwan Awe, killing him.
The lightning also injured 11 other footballers including a Malaysian national, as reported by the New Straits Times.
Sungai Golok police chief Colonel Thun Sirikhunt said the incident occurred around 5.30pm (6.30pm Malaysia time) during the semi-final match of the Golok FA Cup football tournament at Santiphap Stadium.
He said the first half of the match between SAM COLT FC and Abu Nong Sirin had already ended when heavy rain fell and lightning struck the middle of the field.
Who was the Malaysian player?
According to Thun Sirikhunt, the Malaysian player injured by the lightning strike was identified as Mohammad Alif Ezzahan Zulkifli, who plays for SAM COLT FC, a mixed amateur football team made up of Thai and Malaysian players that frequently competes in cross-border regional tournaments in the border areas between Malaysia and Thailand, such as Sungai Kolok.
In a report by Harian Metro, Alif described the moment he was hit by the lightning, saying: “It felt like I was dead, and then came back to life, after being struck by lightning.”
The 22-year-old said he was about 20 meters away from Safwan Awe when the incident occurred.
“I suddenly collapsed to the ground and fell unconscious. At first, I thought I was hit by someone because only I only felt pain in my head.
“I knew the victim through football, and he was a great player,” said Alif.
He represented Kelantan FC in the President’s Cup competition in 2022, and the Premier League in 2023.
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