Student, teachers taken to hospital after lightning strike hits school

Students and teachers have been taken to the hospital after a lightning strike affects 15 people at a school in Australia’s central Queensland.

The affected students aged between 10 and 12 and teachers of Clinton State School were transported to Gladstone Hospital for mild tingling symptoms on Tuesday afternoon, 7news reported.

According to Queensland Ambulance Service, the lightning strike hit a nearby location off Harvey Road at 1.33 pm and the affectees are in stable condition.

Greg Christensen, QAS Acting Senior Operations Supervisor, told local media that it was believed the strike came down between two trees on the oval where the children had been playing. “We ended up transporting 13 students and two teachers away from the location for observation,” he said.

“The main complaints were anxiety, the kids were pretty wound up after the incident, but also complaining of tingling to the lower limbs.”

The reports said that the children had been playing on the oval when lightning struck – some engaged in wet play for the last day of school. “It could have turned out very differently,” he said adding that they were lucky no one was burnt.