TEN people have been seriously injured and four are fighting for their lives after lightning struck a river bank in Germany overnight.
An earlier strike at a campsite saw 38 children rushed to hospital as 700 youngsters were evacuated.
AlamyA large contingent of emergency services are deployed near the Elbe in Dresden[/caption]
Soest district fire departmentThirty-eight children were earlier rushed to hospital after lightning struck a campsite[/caption]
Lightning is said to have struck after 5pm on Monday during a storm on the banks of the Carus near the Rosengarten, a rural municipality with a population of some 13,000 near Hamburg.
Three women and seven men between the ages of 26 and 41 were reportedly injured in the strike.
Two men, aged 27 and 30, had to be resuscitated after they suffered cardiac arrest, a fire department spokesman said on Monday evening.
All of those injured in the strike received emergency medical care and were then rushed to various nearby hospitals.
They complained of symptoms including “tingling in the extremities”, according to local media.
Police cordoned off the area as a helicopter flew above in search of other injured people.
The German Weather Service in Leipzig had earlier warned of strong thunderstorms in parts of Saxony.
In Dresden, and other places in Germany, there was a “level two” of four risk of thunderstorms occurring.
The ten people were injured when lightning struck Dresden’s Elbe river bank, near a rose garden.
Lightning was suspected to have struck a tall shipping mast on the Elbe, Radio Dresden reports.
People who were in the area at the time were urged by the local fire department to seek medical care immediately if they began experiencing symptoms.
Fire department spokesman Michael Klahre told Radio Dresden: “Anyone who feels numb in their arms and legs should go to the hospital.”
Police are investigating the incident.
The strike on Monday evening followed an earlier weather event on Sunday which saw 38 children rushed to hospital.
More than 700 people were evacuated from The Pentecost tent camp after it was hit by a dangerous lightning bolt.
A raging thunderstorm was at the time passing over the Soest district, where there was a tent camp of fire brigade youngsters.
More than 100 firefighters arrived on scene to begin a large-scale rescue operation after a “mass casualty incident” alarm sounded.
Sixty-two people were examined at the campsite by emergency services, with 38 people sent to hospitals in the Soest and Unna districts for “further examination”.
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