Eight children and three adults have been struck by lightning in a Paris park after a sudden spring storm sent a bolt crashing down upon a children's birthday party, a spokesman for Paris' fire service says.
He credited an off-duty firefighter with playing a critical role in getting medical help to the victims on Saturday but some were still fighting for their lives.
Another group of people at a children's soccer match in western Germany were also hit by lightning on Saturday afternoon, leaving three adults seriously injured.
The birthday group had sought shelter under a tree at Park Monceau, a northwest Paris park popular with well-to-do families, when a lightning bolt touched down, according to Paris fire service spokesman Eric Moulin.
He said Pascal Gremillet, an off-duty firefighter, was visiting a museum nearby when he noticed the commotion and discovered nine of the 11 victims lying unconscious on the ground under the three.
He immediately went to work.
"He saw who was the most seriously injured. He did a quick triage of the victims. He did first aid. He alerted the rescue services," Moulin told The Associated Press.
"Without his actions, it would have been much worse."
Moulin said six of those hit were seriously injured - with three children and one adult fighting for their lives. He said five others had been slightly injured by the lightning, including four children.
Footage shot by the fire service showed a dramatic scene at a nearby bank that was commandeered as a makeshift treatment centre, with children wrapped in gold thermal blankets sitting and lying on the building's tiled floor as firefighters administered first aid before evacuating the victims to area hospitals.
Two small feet, smudged with what looked like soot, stuck out from underneath one of the blankets.
Moulin gave the children's ages as around 9 years old.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw an abandoned pair of children's glasses and jacket near the tree. White-and-red tape was strung around the area and whistle-blowing park wardens ushered weekend joggers out of the park, which was swiftly closed.
White-and-red tape is strung across a sandy pathway through Park Monceau. Source: AP
"This accident is extremely rare in the Paris region," professor Pierre Carli, an emergency medical services official, told reporters at a press conference following the strike.
35 hit by lightning at German footy match
Thirty-five people, including 30 children, have been injured after lightning struck during a football match in western Germany.
Three adults, the referee among them, suffered serious injuries when lightning struck the children's game in the town of Hoppstaedten on Saturday, police said.
Witnesses immediately performed CPR on the victims, and one man was taken to hospital in a helicopter.
The 30 children aged 9 to 11 and two other adults suffered irregular heartbeats. They were taken to hospital as a precautionary measure, but were considered only to be slightly injured.
The match had just ended when the lightning hit.
"There was no rain and no dark sky according to witnesses," the police spokesman said.
Meteorologists said three storm cells were moving through the area at the time of the incident.
The German weather service had warned of heavy storms across the state of Rhineland-Palatinate during the afternoon.
A weather front brought heavy rain and hail to the region late on Friday, causing widespread damage.
Whole vineyards had been stripped of foliage, the spokesman said, but no people had been injured, he added.
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