Lighting can strike twice: Survivor also wins lottery

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The odds of being hit by lightning in Canada? One in a million. The odds of winning the lottery? A depressing one in 13 million.

The odds may be slim, but lightning strike survivor Peter McCathie of Amherst, Nova Scotia, has proven that the universe does strike in mysterious ways.

McCathie won the Atlantic Lotto 6/49 last week, splitting the million-dollar prize with co-worker Diana Miller, reported CTV News.

“I honestly expected to get hit by lightning again first,” McCathie told CTV.

McCathie was struck by lightning at 14, while locking his boat up in shallow waters.

“It was a very sunny day, there was one big, white cloud in the sky and the lightning bolt came through the trees and hit me,“ McCathie told CTV Atlantic.

McCathie’s daughter was also struck by lightning a few years ago, in a strangely-similar situation, while locking canoes up in Manitoba.

In the United States, it is more likely to be attacked by a shark or become a movie star, than to win the lottery, reports NBC News

Sophie Leger, a mathematics professor at the University of Moncton, estimates that the odds of being struck by lightning and winning the lottery are even less likely that we would think – 1 in 2.6 trillion, she told CTV.

As for McCathie, he is not too worried about the odds and the workings of the universe. He told reporters he plans on taking more time off and may take his wife on a second honeymoon next year.

Since McCathie owns the shop where he bought the ticket, he will receive an additional $10,000 from the Atlantic Lottery Corporation.