Fact Check: Do mobile phones attract lightning

New Delhi, Jun 24: Is it safe to carry a phone while it is raining? A shocking video is doing the rounds with the claim that phones can attract lightning.

In a the video a man can be seen walking while it is raining with an umbrella. He is suddenly struck by lightning following which there is an explosion and he is seen lying unconscious on the ground.

"This man was using his phone while walking in the rain, it is believed the lightning was attracted to the phone signals. Don't use phone in open spaces when it is raining," says the caption of the video.

OneIndia has learnt that this claim is misleading. Mobile phones do not attract lightning. In fact a search led to to a report in the Mirror. The article says a security guard's umbrella was vaporised into a giant fireball after being zapped by lightning. This was an incident reported from Indonesia in 2021.

We also came across a report in the Kompas. This report also says that the incident did not take place due to the cell phone.

Professor Reynaldo Zoro, an expert in the field of lightning quoted in the report said that cell phones or handy talkies do not cause a person to be struck by lighting and this is because they have different frequencies.

Even the National Weather Service, the official nodal agency for weather forecasts in the US also calls this is a myth. Hence we can conclude that cell phones do not attract lightning.