Overview
- A lightning bolt hit the pitch on Tuesday during extra time of a Golok FA Cup semifinal at Santiphap Stadium in Su-ngai Kolok, collapsing several players and fatally injuring 24-year-old Yala FC winger Safwan Awae.
- Emergency teams took at least nine injured players to Hospital Sungai Kolok and one Malay player later returned home to continue recovery, while local police and hospital staff confirmed Awae died after resuscitation efforts.
- Yala FC and the Football Association of Thailand issued condolences and club representatives visited Awae’s family after the player, who had joined Yala about a week earlier, was declared dead hours after the strike.
- A spectator video of the strike circulated widely on social media, and specialists and commentators renewed demands that officials suspend outdoor play at the first sign of electrical storms and adopt clearer on-site safety rules.
- The incident underscores risks in the storm-prone southern Thailand–Malaysia border region and follows recent on-field lightning deaths, increasing pressure for tournament organizers to review suspension protocols and install better lightning protection.