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Pair zapped in storm were 'taking selfie'

Two backpackers are out of hospital after being struck by lightning while apparently taking a photo of themselves during Queensland's ferocious storms.

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Source: AAP


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Two backpackers are believed to have been taking a selfie at a scenic lookout in southern Queensland when struck by lightning.

Southern Downs councillor Cameron Gow says the pair were zapped at Stanthorpe's Mt Marley Lookout on Sunday evening.

"I understand they were trying to take a selfie and the gentleman who had the phone in the air got hit and the person next to him suffered heart failure," Mr Gow told ABC Radio on Monday.

The pair were discharged from Toowoomba Hospital on Monday morning, a hospital spokeswoman said.

A man was also struck by lightning at Springfield, near Ipswich, during the ferocious storms that pounded Queensland's southeast.

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He was taken to Ipswich Hospital in a stable condition.

Another man, 24, was taken to the same hospital in a stable condition after being zapped by fallen power lines in another part of Ipswich.

More than 107,000 lightning strikes were recorded during the storms, which also packed destructive winds and driving rain.

Trees fell through roofs and walls and fences were blown over during the wild weather.


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