ST. PETERSBURG, FL – A 16-year-old girl identified as Ashley King is in critical condition after a lightning strike left her in a 15-minute cardiac arrest in St. Petersburg, Florida on Thursday. She and three other teenagers were reportedly hit by lightning while under a banyan tree during a late afternoon storm.
King is currently recovering in a Florida hospital, according to local reports by Fox 13. Another 17-year-old boy, who was also struck by the lightning, has since been hospitalized for burn-related injuries.
The emergency services were alerted at around 5:45 p.m. on Thursday following reports of multiple people struck by lightning during a storm.
Two of the teens were found on the ground under the tree, prompting first responders to immediately provide life-saving measures. The two other teens informed the medics that they too had been hit. The victims consisted of two 16-year-olds and two 17-year-olds, one male and one female each.
According to data from the National Weather Service (NWS), lightning strikes result in the deaths of approximately 27 Americans and injuries to over 240 people each year. It reports the odds of an individual being struck by lightning to be one in 15,300. So far in 2024, lightning strikes have caused seven deaths, including a 59-year-old New Jersey man who was fatally electrocuted in June while reportedly attempting to alert beachgoers of an oncoming storm in Seaside Park.