Mum And Daughter Struck By Lightning In Pool

A mother and her daughter were hospitalised after they were struck by lightning – in a swimming pool.

The couple had decided to go swimming in their pool in the garden of their home in the market town Furnitz in the southern Austrian province of Carinthia.

After the 36-year-old mother and her 12-year-old daughter were hit, the daughter passed out. The mother managed to get herself and her daughter to the side before she also passed out.

A policeman said: “In Furnitz it was raining heavily but was not yet lightning when they got in the pool. The lightning hit their house and then the pool. When the pair felt the power surge in the water the mother managed to get the daughter out of the pool. She then collapsed next to the pool.”

The family father who was in the house heard the screams for help and called emergency services who took the mother and daughter to hospital.

Hospital spokesman Kerstin Wrussnig said: “The mother and daughter were lucky. They escaped without injury. But they were kept in overnight in Villach hospital for observation.”