Family of 3 injured by lightning in Polish Tatra Mountains

WARSAW, Poland – A couple and their seven-year-old child were hospitalized Friday after lightning hit a tree they were passing while trekking in the Tatra Mountains in southern Poland, where a thunderstorm killed five people last week.

Regina Tokarz, director of the hospital in Zakopane, at the foot of the Tatras, said their injuries were not life-threatening. The injuries were the result of the three being knocked down by the force of the lighting that struck a tree they were passing during a storm. The family was trekking between Hala Gasienicowa and Kuznice, south of the Zakopane mountain resort.

Earlier, Andrzej Maciata of the Tatra emergency service TOPR said one of the three, a woman, passed out briefly but then regained consciousness and attempted to walk down to Kuznice, aided by her companions. They were met by rescuers who had set out on an all-terrain vehicle to find them. They took the woman to an ambulance and to the hospital in Zakopane.

Maciata said a helicopter that was also dispatched had to turn back due to bad weather.

Last week, a thunderstorm over the Tatras killed four tourists in Poland, including two children, and a Czech tourist in the Slovak part of the mountains.