A strong electrical shock shook the rural town of CupHey, in the municipality of Moa, province of Holguín.
Lightning struck near the entrance to the village on Friday, killing three young men and injuring four others with varying degrees of injury.
Identification of victims and presence of authorities
The bodies of the deceased were taken to the Pathology Department of the Guillermo Luis Fernández Hernández-Baquero General Teaching Hospital. Identification work was carried out there in the presence of family members and neighbors.
Local authorities, including the Party secretary in Moa, Yiganis Cruz Martínez, arrived at the hospital, along with members of the Municipal Bureau, representatives of the Administrative Council, and personnel from the Ministry of the Interior to coordinate care for those affected and their loved ones.
Who are the injured?
Four people remain hospitalized in Moa hospital with various injuries caused by the electric shock:
- Yuxander Robles Robles (El Jobo, Sagua de Tánamo): body tremors and numbness in the feet, he is stable.
- Irelemis Ortiz del Rosario (Yamanigüey, Moa): numbness in the upper and lower extremities, now stabilized.
- Lisbeth Pajan Silot (La Playa, Moa): loss of consciousness and eye abrasions, under medical observation.
- Dantry Revé Quiala (Sagua de Tánamo): abrasions on the left knee and right ankle, stable.
A year marked by lightning in Cuba?
The event in CupHey joins an alarming chain of fatal accidents recorded in Cuba during 2025 by electric shocks.
In June, two teenagers, ages 13 and 16, died in Bauta, Artemisa, while playing soccer in the rain.
Also in July, a group of young people in Ciego de Ávila narrowly escaped a lightning strike during another game.
In August, three teenagers lost their lives in Manicaragua, Villa Clara, and a 42-year-old woman died in Colón, Matanzas, while working in the fields.
Then in September, a man died in the city of Holguín after being shocked while handling a beam that touched high-voltage cables.
A tragedy that Moa had already experienced
This isn't the first time Moa has faced a similar loss. In May 2023, a lightning strike struck near the Nickel Union Services Company (ESUNI), killing one worker, Dunielquis Fonseca Borges, and injuring six others.
Shocking figures
According to data from the Institute of Geodesy and Astronomy (IGA), between 1987 and 2023, thunderstorms caused 1,892 deaths in Cuba, an average of 51 each year.
Although deaths have decreased—from 69 annually in the 90s to 37 in the 2010s—experts warn that the risk remains high.
Master of Science Neobil Vega Batista, from the IGA, recalled that "the damage is not limited to the loss of human lives, but also includes complex and difficult-to-quantify economic impacts."
Since 2024, the IGA, the Institute of Meteorology, the University of Havana, the Fire Department, and the Fire Protection Agency have been working on an Early Warning System to reduce the consequences of these natural phenomena.
At the time of writing, the names of the three young men who died in Moa had not been revealed.