A fire truck is parked at the entrance to Monceau parc in the center of Paris, France, Saturday, May 28, 2016, after a lightning bolt crashed down onto a Paris park, striking 11 people at a child's birthday party.(Photo: Francois Mori, AP)
Lightning strikes on Saturday injured more than 40 in Europe, including children playing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>at a popular park in Paris and attendees at a children's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>soccer game in Germany.
In Paris' Park Monceau, a surprise spring storm prompted adults and children attending a birthday party to seek shelter under a tree. Eleven people, including eight children, were injured when lightning struck.
An off-duty fireman rushed to the scene after the strike, and found nine of the 11 prone under the tree, according to Paris fire service spokesman Eric Moulin. Six of the wounded were in serious condition, and four suffered<span style="color: Red;">*</span>life-threatening injuries.
"Without his actions, it would have been much worse," Moulin said.
In Western Germany, lightning struck a children's soccer match, seriously injuring three adults.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The strikes hit shortly after the game finished at about 2 p.m. and seemed to come out of the blue.
"There were no clouds in the sky … so that this incident couldn’t have been expected," police spokesman Dominik Lentz told n-tv television.
Besides the three adults, which included the match's referee, another 32 people including 30 children between the ages of 9 and 11 were taken to the hospital as a precaution, the dpa news agency reported.
Contributing: Associated Press
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