An airport maintenance worker in Vietnam has died after been struck by lightning on the tarmac at Hanoi’s Noi Bai airport.
The 40-year-old is an employee of the Vietnam Airlines Engineering Company, a unit of Vietnam Airlines.
He was prepping a Vietnam Airlines plane for departure when a bolt of lightning struck the right wing of the jet and knocked him out.
He was pronounced dead on the way to hospital.
This is the first fatality of its kind of an airport worker although lightning strikes at airports do occur occasionally.
Noi Bai Airport has a functioning lightning protection system in place.
In recent years, a number of lightning strikes jave damaged taxiways and runways at Vietnam airports.
A recent lightning strike damaged the tarmac at Vinh International Airport.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Pacific editor
