He was doing a piece to camera (Picture: Youtube/China News Daily)

A television presenter had a lucky escape this week after he was apparently struck by lightning during a live broadcast.

The man, believed to be presenter Liu Xiaodong, was reporting on the weather in Dalian, China, when the incident took place.

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Speaking to The Paper, he said: ‘I saw a yellow spark on my hand and the umbrella handle.

‘The electricity travelled up my forearm and my hand was numb afterwards.


‘The video didn’t quite capture the sparks.’

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He dropped the umbrella (Picture: Youtube/China News Daily)

During the footage his report appears to be going well, however suddenly a flash of light fills the sky behind him.



The piece to camera then comes to a halt as a large electrical buzz takes over the sound.

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The lightning had reportedly hit the metal tip of Xiaodong’s umbrella – causing him to drop it.

Miraculously, the reporter was not injured in the strike.

More than 135,000 people were watching the weather forecast has Xiaodong was struck.

Viewers had mixed emotions about the validity of the video – with some saying he was ‘very lucky’ and others stating the lightning ‘was too distant to hit.