Child suffers burns from lightning strike

A lightning struck a house in the Haademeeste rural municipality in Parnu County, southwestern Estonia, before noon on Tuesday, causing burns to a child who was inside the building at the time.

At 11:22 a.m., the emergency response center received a call from the village of Treimani in the municipality of Haademeeste, where, according to the caller, lightning had struck a house and a child standing near a window had been injured. At the time rescuers arrived, an ambulance was taking the child, who had suffered burns, to a hospital.

Also a man who had poisoning symptoms from inhaling smoke was taken away.

There was a mother in the house with three children at the moment of the accident. The mother and the other two children were not injured.

A carpet and curtains with traces of damage from smoldering had been thrown out of the house, and a table inside was covered in soot. Firefighters checked the fire safety of the house and its attic, but found nothing else that could be considered a fire hazard.

The bolt of lightning shattered one window of the house, put the house's interior in disarray and loosened bricks in one of the building's end walls, which partially fell on the ground. The area next to the wall had been sealed off with police tape. According to the head of the rescue operation, the strike also damaged the building's electrical distribution board and electricians were called in to check for damage.