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A man died after being struck by lightning near the summit of Germany’s highest peak, police said Monday, while a family of eight was injured after being hit by lightning in the north of the country.
The 18-year-old German resident was one of a group of three young men who took the mountain railway up the Zugspitze late Sunday afternoon and then continued to the summit, which is a climb of about 80 meters (260 feet) from a terrace used by many visitors.
Lightning struck repeatedly as the men descended from the summit and the 18-year-old suffered a fatal electric shock, police said. Recovery efforts were complicated by the ongoing storm.
The Zugspitze sits at 2,962 meters (9,718 feet) above sea level and is located in the Alps on Germany’s border with Austria.
Several parts of Germany were hit by storms on Sunday. In Delmenhorst, in the north of the country, a family of eight had taken shelter under a tree in a park when lightning struck. All eight were hurt, and a five-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl were taken to hospitals with life-threatening injuries.
Last month, seven members of a youth group hiking in Utah were transported to hospitals after lightning struck the ground near them.
About 20 people are killed in lightning strikes across the U.S. each year, while hundreds more are injured, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
So far this year, at least six people have been killed by lightning in the U.S., including four in the last week of June.
