Fisho on Daly River hit by lightning, exploding rod nearly kills him

A FISHO was lucky not to be electrocuted as his rod was struck by lightning — but even luckier when his rod exploded and the shards missed arteries in his neck.

Lightning striking over Darwin by Mike O'Neill.

A FISHO was lucky not to be electrocuted as his rod was struck by lightning — but even luckier when it exploded and the shards missed vital arteries in his neck.

And Western Diesel salesman Reece Carrier, 43, had to wait six hours for the storm to pass before he and his crew could steam up the Daly River and get to the Daly River Clinic.

The lightning hit the rod, which was in the boat’s rod holder and not held by anyone, but struck the reel, sending shards flying.

A CareFlight nurse was dispatched from Darwin aboard a KingAir plane to bring him from Daly River, 120km southwest of Darwin, to Royal Darwin Hospital.

CareFlight director Ian Badham said it was a near-death experience for the fisho and his three mates on an early run-off fishing trip on Friday night, March 14.

“The rod has exploded, sending shards into his neck,” he said.

“It almost, but did not, sever his carotid artery.

“It caused damage around artery in his neck.”

But his friends were unable to drive straight away for fear of further lightning strikes while underway into the storm.

It took them six hours to get back upstream to the boatramp where they could transport him to the CareFlight plane.