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Lightning strikes kill four in Poland's Tatra mountains Lightning strikes kill five in Poland's Tatra mountains
(32 minutes later)
A spokeswoman for Poland’s air ambulance service has said four people have been killed and more than 30 injured when lightning struck different locations in the Tatra mountains. At least five people, including two children, have died and more than 20 others have been injured during a sudden thunderstorm in Poland and Slovakia’s Tatra mountains, according to rescuers.
Kinga Czerwinska told TVN24 that lightning hit Giewont peak, a popular trekking destination, and other locations on Thursday in the mountains in southern Poland. She said some of the injured were brought by helicopter to the hospital in Zakopane in the Tatras, while others were taken elsewhere. Most of the victims were on the Polish side, where lightning struck a metal cross atop Mount Giewont as well as a metal chain near the summit, according to local media. One person died in Slovakia.
Witnesses said the thunderstorm came suddenly on a day that began with clear weather. “There were a few deaths in different parts of the Tatra mountains,” Polish mountain rescue service chief Jan Krzysztof said. He added that three of the injured individuals – all of whom were taken by helicopter to area hospitals – were in intensive care.
According to the Polish news agency PAP, lightning struck a metal chain attached to the last stretch of Mount Giewont to help hikers reach the top.
Poland’s TVN24 commercial news channel reported that lightning also struck the large cross on the summit near the mountain resort town of Zakopane at a time when many hikers were present.
They had set out to climb Poland’s highest mountains when the skies were clear earlier in the day.
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