MALAYSIA: PUBLIC ADVISED TO TAKE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS DURING STORMS

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 (Bernama) -- The public is advised to take precautions
during storms for safety against lightning.

The Meteorological Department advises that handphones not be used and
electrical items be switched off with the plugs to be unplugged during stormy
weather.

In view of the current wet weather, the public should also check weather
reports if they were going to be outdoors for long, the department said in a
statement here Tuesday.

It also advised the people, when outdoors, if they feel static in their hair
or skin, to crouch down on the ground with the palms on the knees and head
between the knees.

"Make your body as small as possible and avoid skin contact with the ground,
the statement said.

The statement was in response to the lightning incidents that occurred in
Rawang and Glenmarie in Shah Alam yesterday which left six foreigners dead and
five people injured.

In the first incident, three Indonesians died and two were injured while
working at a farm during a heavy storm in Sungai Choh, Rawang.

In the Glenmarie incident, three Indonesian contract workers were killed
while three of their colleagues were injured after being hit by lightning.