Twenty people were injured by a ray reported while swimming on a beach in South Carolina, authorities said.
The incident occurred at approximately 5 pm, when several agencies responded to a “reported electrocution” due to lightning in Dominion Beach Park, near the Murray Lake dam in Lexington County, South Carolina, the authorities said in a Press release.
When the first to respond arrived at the scene, 20 patients, eight adults and 12 minors, had been injured by the strike, authorities said.
Eighteen of these people were treated at the scene, while 12 were sent to three local hospitals with injuries that do not threaten life, said Vanessa Díaz, public information officer of Lexington County, A ABC News in a statement.
All patients are expected to recover, authorities said.
When the strike occurred, it was a “bright and sunny day” in the lake, but then a ray hit the water and “energized a metal cable with buoys that surrounds the swimming area,” said the Firefighters district of Irmo in a statement.
Twenty people were injured by a ray reported while swimming on a beach in South Carolina, authorities said.
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“The rays can get away from a cloud. It does not seem logical, but a few hundred of us are believers today,” said the firefighters district.
Several people had swimmed to the buoys and held the cable when he hit the ray, with others near the water, the Fire District said.
“Everyone shook a lot, we are so lucky that the injuries were not worse than them,” said the firefighters district.
Dominion Beach Park is expected to reopen on Wednesday “after security evaluations and authorization of the authorities,” Lexington County officials said.
This week is Safety awareness weekwhich began in 2001 “to draw attention to lightning as a underestimated murderer,” according to the National Meteorological Service. So far this year, there have been four deaths reported by rays in the United States, according to the National Lightning Security Council.
