Lightning strike kills 550 pigs in Bắc Ninh, Vietnam, causing VND 5.5 bn loss

Heavy rain and lightning on the morning of 9 July caused a power outage at two enclosed pig farms in Thôn Hà Mỹ, Lục Nam commune, Bắc Ninh province, Vietnam. The outage disabled electric ventilation fans, leading to overheating and oxygen deprivation that killed more than 550 pigs.

The affected farms belong to two brother families. Nguyễn Văn Đông lost about 300 pigs, estimating a loss of roughly 3 billion VND, while Nguyễn Văn Nam lost about 250 pigs with an estimated loss of 2.5 billion VND. The total economic damage is around 5.5 billion VND. Local residents helped slaughter and sell the pigs, buying them at about 1.5 million VND each, to mitigate the families' losses. The Lục Nam Farmers' Union reported the incident to provincial authorities and is seeking possible support for the affected households.