Four people hit by lightning in front of wedding guests

A bizarre situation saw three adults and a child who were hit by lightning, saved by medics who were attending a nearby beach wedding.

Yesterday afternoon, guests attending a wedding at an Isle of Palms resort in the US State of South Carolina, ran to the assistance of a group struck by a lightning bolt. Local newspaper The Post and Courier reports that wedding guests were sitting down to brunch yesterday afternoon when they heard thunderclaps and witnessed a woman drop the small child she was carrying as she was hit by the stray bolt. The family group - one man, two women and a toddler - had been walking down the boardwalk with one of the male members of the party reportedly carrying an umbrella when the incident occurred. Luckily for the injured family, most of the attendees at the nearby wedding were members of the medical community. Groomsmen and other guests with medical backgrounds rushed to the assistance of the group and carried them off the beach to safety. Wedding guest Matt Wille told the newspaper that one of the men had visible burns on his skin as a result of the lightning strike:

"On one of the men’s shoulders and on part of his back, you could see where the lightning burned his skin. He had been carrying a beach umbrella when the lightning hit."

Local fire chief, Ann Graham, said that the four individuals were transported to a nearby hospital for injuries not believed to be life-threatening. Others who were walking with the family were thrown off their feet by the lightning strike and treated by paramedics at the scene. Lightning deaths are extremely rare in this country, with the risk of such an event in Ireland estimated to be about one in ten million.