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Lightning injures dozens of kids across Europe

Saturday, 28 May 2016 11:16 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 28 May 2016 11:16 PM ]

A child's glasses and a jacket lie on a rock in the Park Monceau after a lightning strike in Paris on May 28, 2016. (AP)

Lightning strikes across Europe have killed one person and injured dozens more including a large number of children.

A 40-year-old man was killed after being struck by lightning while mountain climbing in southern Poland on Saturday.

Meanwhile in western Germany, some 30 people were injured after lightning hit a football pitch during a children’s football game in the village of Hoppstaedten.

Most of the casualties where children, although three adults also suffered severe injuries. The game’s 45-year-old referee, who was directly struck, had to be resuscitated before being transported to hospital via helicopter.

Elsewhere in France, eight children and three adults were hit by lightning while attending a birthday party at a park in northwest Paris.

*A fire truck is parked at the entrance to Park Monceau in the center of Paris, France, May 28, 2016. (AP)*

According to the local fire department spokesman Eric Moulin, the incident occurred as the group was seeking shelter under a tree in the Park Monceau.

Moulin noted that six of the injured were in serious condition with three of the kids and one of the adults battling for their lives.

“This accident is extremely rare in the Paris region," said an emergency medical services official at a press conference held following the incident.

An official with the Meteo-France weather agency was reported by AFP as saying that annually 100 to 200 people are struck by lightning in the country.

He further stressed that people should never take shelter under trees during storms as they attracted lightning.

“It’s what we call the ‘lightning rod effect’,” he said, adding that In the case of park incident, “the floor was wet, so it conducted much more strongly.”

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