Lightning strike boy 'under tree'
The boys are thought to have sheltered under this tree
Six teenagers taken to hospital after a lightning strike were thought to be sheltering under a tree after a storm broke out while they played cricket.
A 17-year-old boy is in a critical but stable condition after the lightning struck at Small Heath Park in Birmingham on Saturday afternoon.
Medical staff said he had suffered a cardiac arrest.
Five more boys, all aged 16 or 17, remained in hospital where their conditions were described as stable.
One of the boys suffered convulsions consistent with an electric shock after the lightning strike, the ambulance service said.
'Raining heavily'
Park keeper Vasan Maniam said it had been raining heavily when the lightning struck.
"I think the boys had been playing cricket and then were standing under a tree, sheltering from the rain," he said.
"I wasn't there when it happened but when I arrived I saw the emergency services and heard that four or five of the boys had been injured."
West Midlands Ambulance Service said it received several 999 calls to the incident.
Crews arrived to find a boy being resuscitated by a member of the public.
"The boy suffered serious burns after being struck by lightning and was in cardiac arrest," a spokeswoman said.
