Lightning Strikes Kill 5, Injure Over 100 in Poland

A rescue helicopter brought injured people to the hospital in Poland's southern Tatra Mountains after a sudden thunderstorm, in Zakopane, Poland, on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Bartlomiej Jurecki)   WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Lightning struck across the Tatra Mountains in southern Poland and neighboring Slovakia on Thursday, killing five people and injuring over 100 others in an area popular with hikers and families, authorities said. Witnesses said the thunderstorm came suddenly on a day that began with clear weather. The lightning strikes pummeled Poland's Giewont peak, a trekking destination that is 1,894 meters (6,214 feet) high, as well as other locations across the Tatras. Four people were killed on the Polish side, including two children, a spokeswoman for the Polish air ambulance service, Kinga Czerwinska, told the news broadcaster TVN24. The Slovak rescue service said a Czech tourist fell hundreds of meters (yards) down the side of a mountain and was killed after lightning knocked him off Banikov peak. Rescuers with the Polish Tatra emergency service, known as TOPR, said they believe the lightning probably hit some of the metal chains installed on Giewont peak to aid tourists in their climb. Some of the injured were brought by helicopter to a hospital in the Polish mountain resort of Zakopane and Krakow province governor Piotr Cwik told reporters that the death toll could certainly rise. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who went to Zakopane, said some amon...
Source: JEMS: Journal of Emergency Medical Services News - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: News Mass Casualty Incidents AP News Tag Source Type: news