Lightning Tragedy Claims Yala FC Winger Safwan Awae
The monsoon rain had already turned Santiphap Stadium into a blur of noise and water when the sky split open.
Seconds later, 24-year-old winger Safwan Awae lay motionless on the turf.
The Yala FC player died on Tuesday, August 5, 2026, after a lightning strike hit the pitch mid-match during a regional cup fixture in southern Thailand. The game, part of the Golok Cup tournament, was being played in the Su-ngai Kolok district of Narathiwat province when the storm that had been building over the ground finally unleashed its force.
A match stopped by a single flash
Play had continued despite deteriorating weather, the rain intensifying into a heavy monsoon downpour. Then came the flash.
A bolt of lightning struck the field and brought the contest to an immediate and horrifying stop. Video from Santiphap Stadium shows players and spectators sprinting towards Awae, some skidding on the soaked grass as they tried to reach him. They formed a frantic circle, attempting to revive him while others tried to shield his body from the relentless rain.
Emergency services arrived quickly and rushed the winger to hospital in critical condition. His fight did not last long. Police chief Thun Sirikhunt later confirmed that Awae had died from his injuries.
He had signed his contract with Thai League 3 side Yala FC only a week earlier. Reports from the club’s circle described the move as a lifelong ambition fulfilled. He never got the chance to build on it.
Twelve others injured in lightning strike
The strike did not spare those around him. Twelve other players suffered burns of varying severity in the same incident, the violence of the bolt leaving bodies scattered and stunned across the pitch.
Among the injured was 22-year-old Malaysian footballer Alif Ezzahan Zulkifli. Several players were taken to nearby Sungai Kolok Hospital for treatment as the scale of the disaster became clear.
Boots, water bottles and kit bags remained abandoned on the touchline while sirens cut through the storm.
Grief for a dream cut short
For Yala FC, the loss runs deeper than the shock of a freak accident. The club had just welcomed Awae into their dressing room, a local talent whose signing carried the weight of his own dreams and his community’s pride.
Yala FC released a statement on their official page, offering heartfelt condolences to his family. The message was brief, heavy, and respectful — a club trying to find words in the aftermath of something that barely feels real.
The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) also responded, stating it “shares the grief with the family, friends and the club during this difficult time.” Across the country’s football circles, the reaction was the same: disbelief, then silence.
A young winger, freshly signed, gone before he could truly start.
A sport in mourning on two continents
The news from Narathiwat lands in a football world already processing another tragedy. In Brazil, teenager Micael Leandro da Silva was recently shot dead shortly after finishing an amateur football tournament in Maceio, as reported by TUKO.co.ke. His father spoke of a family “torn apart” after two men attacked his son from behind.
Different continents. Different circumstances. The same brutal ending for two young men who shared the game as their passion and platform.
In Narathiwat, the rain has long since eased over Santiphap Stadium. The Golok Cup will, at some point, resume. Yala FC will have to walk back out onto a pitch that now carries the memory of a lightning strike and a winger whose debut season never came.
