{"article":{"id":70609,"heading":"Lightning bolt zaps tongue stud","author":"Sarah N. Dippity","created":"2003-07-08 14:26:50","modified":"2013-11-11 00:23:42","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:23:42","article":"
ESCAPE – Becky shows off her piercing
AN AIRPORT worker from Reading was struck by a bolt of lightning when her lip and tongue studs acted as conductors.
Becky Nyang was enjoying a holiday in Kavos, Corfu, when she and a friend were caught in an
electrical storm on a beach.
Scientists reckon the 26-year-old, from Argyle Road, west Reading, is lucky to be alive after she was hit by the bolt while crossing a hotel
courtyard.
Miss Nyang suffered burns to her mouth as well as a bruised shoulder and blistered feet after the flash shot through her body.
She said: “When the bolt went through me, I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die.’ It zapped me frozen.
“I was staggering around blind and couldn’t speak. Everything was bright blue and my body shook for 10 minutes.”
Miss Nyang could hardly speak for three days and now attends group sessions with other
victims of lightning strikes.
Doctors say she must undergo a series of tests before being allowed to return to work as a service agent for Virgin at Heathrow.
Derek Elsom, professor of climatology at Oxford Brookes University, said Miss Nyang would have endured temperatures of around 15,000oC.
Two weeks later, she still finds sleeping difficult.
She said: “I am getting fed up with people saying that the holiday recharged my batteries.”
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