28.01.2014

Four injured after lightning strike

Four men on a building site in France were shocked and burnt yesterday morning after a bolt of lightning hit a tower crane in Saint-Jean-de-Luz just South of Biarritz in the South West of the country.

Two of the four men are seriously injured and were rushed to a hospital in Beyonne while the other two were treated in the local hospital.

The crane operator, 30 metres up in his cab, was uninjured in the incident, although somewhat shocked. He described the event as a massive ball of fire and a huge noise which rocked the crane as it ran down the jib and tower to earth.
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The scene sometime after the incident

There were two tower cranes and around 40 men working on the site of a new clinic at the time the lightning struck. The four injured men were standing closest to the crane.