Lightning kills runner during nighttime mountain race in Greece, seriously injures another
Lightning struck Sunday during a nighttime trail race up a Greek mountain, killing one runner and seriously injuring another, Greek police and the fire service reported.
The two men were running in the Six Peaks race, which passes through the six highest peaks of Mount Falakro in northern Greece, when lightning struck a group of runners at 4 a.m. at an altitude of 4,400 feet, a police officer told The Associated Press.
Two fire service rescue squads came up the mountain from the nearby town of Drama to find one runner, 55, already dead and another, 56, seriously injured. The injured runner was airlifted to a hospital in the city of Kavala, where authorities said he was in serious condition. Neither was identified.
The 22.2-mile race had started at 7 p.m. Saturday in the village of Pyrgoi, 2,066 feet up the slopes of the 7,323-foot mountain. Falakro's six highest peaks in Greece are all over 6,500 feet high; the mountain extends into Bulgaria.
The weather was good when the race started but during the night heavy rain developed and the trail became muddy. By the time the lightning struck, several of the 55 runners taking part had reached the finish line at a mountain hut on top of the Falakro Ski Resort. Runners had 12 hours to complete the race.
The race is one of five, and the second shortest, organized since 2018 by the Nevrokopi Hiking and Mountaineering Club, located in the nearby town of Kato Nevrokopi under the collective name Frozen Peaks. The three longest races -269, 103 and 46 kilometers (167, 64 and 28.6 miles) - have been certified by the Switzerland-based International Trail Running Association.
Earlier this month, a lightning strike near the White House in Washington, D.C. killed three people and injured a fourth.
A CBS News camera that was recording on the White House North Lawn around the time of the lightning strike captured the powerful rumble of the thunder.
Our camera was rolling on the White House North Lawn tonight when lightning struck Lafayette Park nearby, injuring four. The thunder was so loud, @gabrielle_ake and I jumped up in fright. “That’s too close — we’re shutting down” advised photographer Ron Windham. pic.twitter.com/oTtU9VeQBw
— Nancy Cordes (@nancycordes) August 5, 2022
The same week, a lightning strike at an outdoors educator course in in Wyoming killed one student and injured another.