A Thai footballer died and 12 players were injured after lightning struck during a match in a terrifying moment captured on camera.

Sofwan Awae, 24, suffered critical injuries after a lightning bolt struck the pitch at Santiphap Stadium in Sungai Golok, southern Thailand, on Tuesday, police said.

He succumbed to his injuries despite the efforts of emergency medical teams to save him, police chief Thun Sirikhunt said, according to Bernama.

Footage circulated on social media showed a lightning bolt striking in a flash near several players on the field, followed by a loud explosion.

Awae's teammates, wearing black-and-white striped jerseys, rushed to his aid, turned him onto his back and attempted to resuscitate him.

Police said a dozen players, including a Malaysian, were injured and taken to hospital.

They were playing for the Golok FA Cup, a local tournament featuring amateur and Thai-Malaysian teams. Tuesday's match was between SAMCOLTS and Abu x Nong Sirin.

Awae, a winger, played for SAMCOLTS and had recently signed for the Thai third-tier side Yala FC.

Yala FC offered condolences to Awae’s family. “We extend our condolences to the family of our new FC Yala player, Sofwan Awae," the club said.

Fatal lightning strikes are not uncommon in Thailand. At least 283 people were hit by lightning across the country between 2020 and 2024, and many of them died on the spot, the Department of Disease Control reported.

A lightning strike in May this year killed an engineering student and his aunt in a hut in the province of Lampang. Earlier that same month, lightning in Uthai Thani province had killed a 30-year-old pregnant woman returning from a fishing trip with her husband. The couple had taken shelter under a tree when they were struck.

The latest incident came the same day lightning strikes in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand killed at least 14 people, most of them farm workers going about their work in open fields.