Fatal lightning strikes German beer garden

A man has died, and many have been critically injured, after lightning struck a beer garden near the city of Stuttgart in Germany.

The 35-year-old died from his injuries in hospital yesterday (Sunday) after attending the German beer garden on Saturday night before a thunderstorm moved across the city.

The man, according to local reports, was sitting under a tree in the beer garden of a tourist restaurant in the town of Unterensingen when the lightening bolt struck.

According to police and ambulance teams on the scene, three people had to be resuscitated on site and casualties also include an 11-year-old boy and a 43-year-old woman who remain in hospital after also being injured. The woman is still said to be in critical condition, according to the police who also revealed that two other children including a four-year-old boy and a baby girl under 11 months old that were in a bicycle trailer nearby are also casulties of the lightening and are currently being treated for shock.

Police reported that when the storm raged nearby, approximately 15 people ran to seek shelter inside the bar, but six people remained in the beer garden seated at a small table beneath a tree to hide from the rain, thunder and lightening. In addition, several houses in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg — where Unterensignen lies — have also been struck by lightning.

Experts have made pains to warn people that during storms they should always try to seek shelter in a building or a vehicle or, if they cannot get inside and must remain outdoors, to find a flat spot or squat down with their feet together and their arms wrapped around their knees.