Mom misses son's last call
2008-12-04 08:07
Evander - Lincoln Botha's missed call to his mother will never be answered.
About 10 minutes after the 17-year-old made the call, passers-by found his body under a tree where he had presumably been killed by lightning. His cellphone was still in his hand.
He was struck at about 16:00 on Tuesday while seeking shelter from a hail storm under a clump of trees.
"Lincoln left the missed call on his mother Jennifer's phone at 15:48, but she didn't see it.
"We suspect Lincoln wanted to ask whether someone could come and pick him up. It was raining really hard," his father, Raphael Botha, said on Wednesday.
"We were on our way home when we saw my eldest son in a police vehicle. We followed them to the morgue where we waited for the police to arrive with the body. I believe Lincoln died on the scene," said Botha, a nurse at the Evander hospital's casualty ward.
Lincoln, a Grade 11 pupil at Secunda High School, visited a friend close to his parents' home on Tuesday and then walked to the town centre to buy airtime.
He was struck by lightning in a park on the corner of Archen and Stellenbosch Street, opposite the high school's rugby field.
It seems that the lightning hit the bottom branch of the tree and that the charge moved down the tree trunk. The police suspect Lincoln was leaning against the trunk when the tree was struck.
Sensible young man
"We are deeply shocked. Lincoln was a wonderful, quiet boy and his friends looked up to him because he was such a sensible young man," Botha described youngest child.
Lincoln loved soccer and dreamed of playing for the 2010 World Cup team. His sister, Charmaine, had just completed her matric exam.
Hannelee Doubell, spokesperson for the South African Weather Service, said the cellphone call could not have influenced the lighting because cellphones do not carry an electrical charge.
"It's so tragic to hear about Lincoln. The Highveld is renowned for its thunderstorms and a few tall trees close together are dangerous lightning conductors."