An Auckland man is crediting his rubber-soled shoes for saving his life when a lightning bolt struck him last night.
Paul Mortimer, 21, was near the front door of the Birkdale house where he lives with his parents when the lightning hit.
"We heard this noise at the door and the dog
was going mad," his mother Pauline Mortimer said today.
"At first we thought Paul was drunk. He was going, 'I can't see, I can't see. I've been burned'.
"Then he fell on the floor in the kitchen. That's when we saw his shirt. We called an ambulance straight away."
The back of the shirt had a large hole where the lightning had burned it, Mrs Mortimer said.
Nursing staff at North Shore Hospital were amazed he had survived the strike.
"What saved his life, we reckon, were the rubber-soled shoes he had on," his mother said.
It was thought the lightning had exited his body through his eyes, which were sore, but he had regained his eyesight.
Mr Mortimer had rolled in a puddle the moment he was hit, and had not been burned, his mother said.
While he was having to stay in bed to recover, he seemed to be in good spirits.
He was planning to write to the manufacturer of his shoes to compliment them on their product, and intended to frame the remains of the shirt he had been wearing, she said.
- NZPA
