Yala FC Winger Safwan Awae Dies After Lightning Strike
The storm had been building over Santiphap Stadium long before the lightning came.
Sheets of monsoon rain lashed the pitch in Thailand’s Narathiwat province as Yala FC contested a Golok Cup regional fixture in the Su-ngai Kolok district. Players squinted through the downpour, the ball skidding across the soaked turf, the match still being played despite the worsening conditions.
Then the sky split.
A bolt of lightning tore down onto the field on Tuesday, August 5, 2026, striking 24-year-old winger Safwan Awae mid-match and bringing the game – and his life – to a sudden, shocking end.
He had signed for Yala FC only a week earlier. A new contract, a fresh start, a lifelong ambition finally realised. He never got the chance to build on it.
Chaos on the pitch
The moment the lightning hit, the game stopped in an instant. Players dropped to the ground. Some clutched at burns. Others simply froze.
Footage from Santiphap Stadium shows the immediate panic. Teammates and opponents alike sprinted toward Awae, who lay stricken on the turf. Spectators vaulted barriers and rushed from the stands, forming a frantic circle around him as people tried desperately to revive him, some using their bodies and jackets to shield him from the relentless rain.
Twelve other players suffered burns of varying severity in the strike. Among them was 22-year-old Malaysian footballer Alif Ezzahan Zulkifli. Several of the injured were taken to nearby Sungai Kolok Hospital for treatment as emergency sirens cut through the storm.
Medical teams fought to save Awae. He was transported from the stadium in critical condition, but the damage was too great. He did not survive. Local police chief Thun Sirikhunt later confirmed that the Yala FC winger had died from his injuries.
A dream cut short
For Awae, the move to Thai League 3 side Yala FC had carried deep personal meaning. Reports from the club’s circle speak of a player who had long dreamed of pulling on that shirt, finally earning his place just days before the tragedy.
That dream lasted barely a week.
Yala FC released a statement on their official channels, expressing deep condolences to his family and mourning a player who had only just walked through their doors. There was no long history to draw on, no archive of goals or appearances – only the raw, immediate grief of a club that had welcomed a young man and lost him almost at once.
The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) also responded, issuing a formal message that it “shares the grief with the family, friends and the club during this difficult time.” In a football culture used to fierce rivalry and regional pride, the tone was one of shared shock and sorrow.
A brutal reminder
Lightning strikes on football pitches are rare, but every such incident leaves a deep scar. This one unfolded not in a major televised league fixture, but in a regional cup tournament, the Golok Cup, played in front of local supporters at a community ground on Thailand’s southern border.
It underlined, in the harshest possible way, the risks of playing through violent weather in a region where the monsoon can turn a match into a hazard within minutes.
As the investigation into the incident continues and the injured players recover, one fact will not change: a 24-year-old winger, finally where he had always wanted to be, lost his life in the middle of the game he loved.
The next time the clouds gather over Santiphap Stadium, everyone there will remember the night the sky came down.
