Seven members of a youth group hiking inUtahwere transported to hospitals on Thursday after lightning struck the ground near them.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints youth group from Salina, Utah, were in the eastern part of Sevier county at about 1.45pm when a light rain began and the lightning hit, the Sevier county sheriff, Nathan Curtis, said in a statement.
“Approximately 50 youth felt the shock of the lightning,” Curtis said, adding that seven of the young people had “medical concerns due to the electrocution”.
Two had serious symptoms and were flown by helicopter to the Primary Children’s hospital in Lehi, Utah. Five others were transported by ambulances to the Sevier Valley hospital in Richfield and the Gunnison Valley hospital in Gunnison, Curtis said.
None of the injuries were considered life-threatening, according to Curtis, who said the other hikers were returned to their families in Salina, which is 139 miles (223km) south of Salt Lake City.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Preventionestimatethat the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are less than one in a million – and nearly 90% of all lightning-strike victims survive.