Spoke on the phone: details of the shepherd's death from a lightning strike have been revealed.

      August 5, 2026 11:08 Incidents During a thunderstorm, a 62-year-old shepherd from the Uren district was able to talk on the phone through a wired headset — it was allegedly this that became the conductor of electric current at the moment of the lightning strike. Details of the tragedy that occurred on July 30 in the village of Sodomovo were shared by the deceased's colleagues on the air of the program "By the Way" (16+). The man was in the field with his herd when he was struck by lightning. The discharge killed not only him but also his horse. Farm workers suspected something was wrong when the cows returned without the shepherd. According to the farm manager Zinaida Malyutina, everything happened in an open area of the field. The raincoat on the man was torn to shreds, his ear was completely burned, and his arm and body were injured. Headphones lay nearby, and his legs remained in the stirrups — this indicates that he was in the saddle at the moment of the strike. Colleagues suggest that he might have been receiving a call at that time. The shepherd constantly used a wired headset and was almost always in touch with his daughter. The girl turned 17 in early July. After her mother's death at the age of 13, she lived with her father and is now, according to farm employees, struggling to cope with what happened. "We assume that it was his daughter who was calling. We haven't asked anything yet; she is in such stress. They were always in touch," said Zinaida Malyutina. Eyewitnesses note that the thunderstorm did not seem particularly strong, but the last clap of thunder and the flash of lightning were very powerful and occurred simultaneously. According to Zinaida Malyutina, the deceased shepherd was a responsible and hardworking person who sincerely loved his job. "He never left the herd unattended; he knew each cow, and there were 160 of them, by name, whose they were. He was a pure-hearted person, a great worker," she said. The program reminded that during a thunderstorm, a rider in an open field becomes the highest point in the area, and lightning usually strikes the elevated object, choosing the shortest path to the ground. Earlier, it was reported that a 41-year-old paratrooper from the Nizhny Novgorod region died during a parachute jump on Airborne Forces Day in the Moscow region. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" has channels on Telegram and MAX. Subscribe to stay updated on major events, exclusive materials, and operational information. Copyright © 1999—2025 NIA "Nizhny Novgorod". When republishing, a hyperlink to NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" is mandatory. This resource may contain materials 18+