Four soccer players killed in lightning strike during game
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Four soccer players have died after being struck by lightning during a women’s game in southwestern Colombia, according to reports.
The tragic incident — which also claimed the life of a man with the team — happened when a thunderstorm broke out during a match in the village of El Real, Casas Bajas, in the municipality of Cajibio, Colombia, on Sunday, U.K. outlet National World reported.
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The women, at the time, had taken shelter from the storm under a tree.
“The women were participating in a football tournament when the emergency occurred,” government spokesperson Lesly Valencia said, according to the outlet.
“A lightning bolt struck a tree and that was what caused the death of the four women.”
The victims were identified as Jeidy Daneisy Morales, Daniela Yinet Mosquera, Luz Eneida Lame, and Etelvina Mosquera, who came from nearby Piedras Negras, local newspaper Cauca Hoy reported.
Two other people, Juliana Mosquera and Jhorman Mosquera, suffered serious burns and were taken to hospital where Jhorman died from his injuries.
The ages of the victims are unknown.
The team had been playing in a weekly soccer championship organized by Cajibio’s municipal administration, Piedras Negras action board president Elmer Giovanny Mosquera told the paper.
He added that it was not raining when the lightning struck, but noted that it was “cloudy.”
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In a message shared on the Cajibio municipal government’s Facebook page on Tuesday, Mayor Diana Carolina Cabanillas Valencia paid tribute to the victims and their loved ones.
“We join together in solidarity with their families and friends at this difficult time, sending them our deepest condolences,” the post read, according to translation.
“May their memory remain in the hearts of those who knew them and may strength be with them through this painful process.”
The Toronto Sun reached out to the Cajibo government for an update but has not yet heard back.
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