According to the Dominican Today, the danger of being struck by lightning is increased when you use a cellular phone during a storm.

They base their assumption on the case of a 15-year-old female teenager who was struck by lighting in a large park of London while talking on her cell phone. One year after the incident, she is still in a wheelchair and suffering from physical and emotional problems. The doctors of the British Medical Journal were surprised by the severity of the wounds and decided to bring attention to the case.

In my opinion, the Dominican Today is overreacting. What did they expect? The poor girl got hit by lightning and survived, that is by itself a miracle. I don’t see why they warn people to not use a cell phone during a storm – in fact, any contact with a conductive material is subject to increase the injuries.

So the real conclusion we can get from the article published in the British Medical Journal should be: you have more chance of being struck by lightning if you stand in the middle of a parking lot during a storm, and there is no evidence that using a cell phone during a storm will increase your odds of being struck by lightning.