Florida - Authorities have not named the motorcyclist.
Published: Wed 12 Jun 2019, 4:38 PM
Updated: Wed 12 Jun 2019, 6:42 PM
A 45-year-old North Carolina motorcyclist was killed after a bolt of lightening struck him while he was riding on a Florida highway. The Florida Highway Patrol posted a terrifying photo of the man's cracked and burned helmet after he subsequently crashed.
An off-duty police trooper, who was also at Ormond Beach on Florida's Atlantic coast, saw a lightning hit the man's helmet causing his 2018 Harley Davidson to flip and roll into the grass median. Florida Highway Patrol Captain Kim Montes confirmed that the helmet had been shattered, with scorch marks that indicated that it had been hit by lightning.
Authorities have not named the motorcyclist, from Charlotte, North Carolina, and it still remains unclear whether the man was killed by the lightning bolt or the subsequent crash, state troopers say.
According to the US National Weather Service, an average of 49 people are killed by lightning in the US every year. Although only around 10 per cent of strikes are fatal, they often lead to lifelong injuries, experts said.
Since 2016, there have been 10 motorcycle-related lightning deaths according to John Jensenius, a meteorologist with the National Lightning Safety Council. He, however, noted that several of those deaths occurred with riders who were not on motorcycles when they were struck, reported BBC.
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