Seven People Killed by Lightning in Central Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Seven people died and two more were injured when struck by a lightning bolt in the Mesa Cuata community in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, said the state secretary of public safety, Alvar Cabeza de Vaca.

The official, cited by local media, said it was around 3:00 p.m. local time when the report came in that seven people were injured by lightning in that town.

It wasn’t until an hour later, however, that the deaths of seven people were confirmed and that two others were injured, all apparently belonging to the same family.

According to the official, members of the municipal and state emergency management services, as well as from the Public Safety Secretariat and the Red Cross, rushed to the scene to provide aid for the injured and determine exactly what happened.

“They were standing together or walking down a road – these were people who go out to work in the fields,” the official said.

The injured were described as a woman, 30, and an 8-year-old boy, both reportedly taken to Guanajuato General Hospital with injuries that were not life threatening.

Cabeza de Vaca repeated the rainy-season guidelines to the population.

“What people must do, above all those who live in the countryside, is take shelter during rainstorms, which can easily turn into electric storms, but they must not seek shelter under a tree or on high ground,” he said.