A young boy is fighting for his life after he was struck by lightning during a football tournament at school.
The 12-year-old was injured on Monday evening (October 2), when lighting struck at 5.15pm during a match at The Sele School, Hertford.
A man in his 50s has also been injured, with emergency services rushing to the scene.
The young boy was rushed to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in a “critical” condition and the man was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital for precautionary measures.
The Sele School headteacher Chris Quach took to his school’s Facebook page to inform parents and pupils about the incident.
He explained that a district football tournament organised by an “external body” had taken place at school, revealing that a “young boy from another school and an adult” were struck by lightning during the event, and that they had been taken to hospital.
Mr Quach also thanked the emergency services, the community and first aiders, who were “quick to respond” while waiting for emergency services to arrive. The headteacher continued to inform those attached to the school about the worrying situation.
He said: “On Monday 2 October after school there was a Football Tournament, organised by the District, which took place at The Sele School. Unfortunately, during the Tournament there was a lightning strike which affected several people, two of whom, one adult and one student from another local secondary school, were taken to hospital for treatment.
“The entire staff of The Sele School, the wider school community and I would like to thank the emergency services, the parents and staff who were attending the match and were so helpful and our first aiders who did an amazing job while waiting for the emergency services to respond. Our good wishes and thoughts are with the people who were injured.”
A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “We were called at 5.16pm with reports that two people, a 12-year-old boy and a man in his fifties, had been struck by lightning in Welwyn Road, Hertford. We sent East Anglian Air Ambulance, two ambulance officer vehicles, an ambulance, a BASICS vehicle and a rapid response car.
“The child was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in a critical condition and the man was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital for further care. Both were conveyed by land ambulance.”
It comes as an explosion at a biogas plant in Oxford continues to burn today after it was struck by lightning.
Police, firefighters and paramedics have been at the scene of the inferno which turned the night sky orange and could be seen for miles around.
Locals in and around Oxford took to social media to share photographs and videos of the fireball lighting up the sky at around 7.20pm on Monday, October 2.
Emergency services were seen rushing to the scene near Yarnton at Severn Trent Green Power, a waste management company, as some locals temporarily lost power.
Have you been affected by this incident? If so, email hannah.kane@reachplc.com
They said: “We were called around 5.20pm last night (Monday 2 October) to assist the ambulance service after two people were apparently hit by lightning at a site on Welwyn Road in Hertford.
“A 13 year old boy and a 52 year old man were assessed by paramedics and taken to hospital. At the time, the boy was in a serious condition and the man was stable.”
