A one-year-old in Russia's Far East has miraculously survived after a sudden lightning bolt strike killed his father, who was holding the child in his arms.
The child's 25-year old father was reportedly hit by an out-of-the-blue lightning bolt while walking along the shore of Lake Sodovoye with his son in his arms, the Zabaikal region police said Monday in an online statement.
The force of the lightning bolt was enough to melt the man's clothes, and he was killed instantly.
Witnesses were quoted as saying the sky was completely clear at the time of the strike.
His son suffered burns and received bruises to the chest from being dropped to the ground, the statement said.
Recent research estimates around 6,000 people are killed by lightning strikes each year worldwide.
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