One person was k!lled and three others were injured when a group of Florida beachgoers was struck by lightning on Friday afternoon, July 3.
The beachgoers were swimming in the Gulf at Fort Myers Beach around 3 p.m. when they were struck.
One swimmer, an unidentified man, was struck directly and di£d. Three other swimmers, who were wading in the ocean near the strike, were injured and rushed to a nearby hospital, according to Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District Chief Scott Wirth.
The three other individuals injured “appear to be in stable condition,” Sarah Rodriguez of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office told The Post.
Witnesses describe the terrifying moment as sounding like “an atomic bomb went off.”
“All of a sudden, it sounded like an atomic bomb went off,” beachgoer Debra Crombie told WINK News.
“I could see the flash, and I couldn’t see at that moment where it had hit, but I knew it had hit either on the beach or right at the shoreline,” she continued.
“It was so bright our ears hurt, our eyes were blinded by it, like that’s how intense this was.”
Crombie, who was on her annual vacation to Fort Myers, Florida, with her family when the tragedy struck, said one of her relatives saw the lightning strike the water before it “split in two.”
“And so at that point, we saw kids running off the beach back to our resort and they were screaming and I’m like, oh boy, I bet somebody got hit,” she said.
The man who was directly struck was pulled from the water and CPR measures were attempted, but he had di£d by the time emergency responders arrived at the scene, the outlet reported.
Crombie believes the tragic beachgoer was staying at her resort with his family.
“We saw his child earlier in the day, and everyone was crying on and off, and I just can’t stop thinking about this family, and my heart just breaks for them,” she said.
“It was supposed to be this beautiful experience on beautiful Fort Myers Beach and now it’s not.”