Lightning strikes football pitch during training: eight players hospitalized, three in serious condition

Dramatic episode in Sweden: a youth team engaged in a football training was struck by lightning and risked their lives. Eight footballers in hospital, three in serious conditions

Tragedy narrowly avoided in Sweden yesterday evening, Thursday 29th August. A lightning It struck a youth football team that was training on a pitch on the outskirts of Stockholm.

Eight footballers were rushed to hospital, three of them are in serious condition. Some rescuers report: “It looked like a bomb had exploded”.

The outbreak of the storm, the shelter of the footballers among the trees and the lightning that struck the field

A dramatic episode occurred yesterday evening, Thursday 29th August, in Lidingo, a small town located east of Sweden’s capital, Stockholm.

The local football team was training when, faced with the sudden outbreak of a strong storm, they found shelter under some trees on the edge of the pitch. A rather imprudent choice, considering the fact that after only a few moments a lightning bolt literally crashed with all its violence in the surrounding area.

The consequences that followed were extremely serious for many of the players present. Once the emergency services were alerted, eight players were rushed to the nearest hospital, three of them in serious condition.

The reconstruction of the witnesses present

The head of the emergency services intervention, Barry Laviswas one of the first to arrive at the scene of the accident.

This is his reconstruction of the facts released to public television SVT:

“When it started raining, pretty much the whole team was under some trees, then lightning struck one of the trees”.

Lavis then continued saying:

“I’ve worked as a rescue manager for a long time, but I’ve never experienced anything like this. There was a lot of emotion because these were teenagers, it seemed like a bomb had gone off.”

The rescue services, fire brigade teams and ambulances arrived on the scene very quickly: the comrades who were unharmed by the lightning strike helped the injured to get on the vehicles for emergency transport to the hospital.