Eleven people were struck by a bolt of lightning in a park in Paris on Saturday and six of them were seriously hurt, the French interior ministry said.Eight of the injured were children, the ministry said in a statement. The incident occurred in the Monceau park in a north-western district of the French capital.The children, aged between seven and 14, had been attending a birthday party in the park at the time, Itele TV channel quoted local officials as saying.Eric Moulin, a spokesman for the French fire-fighting service, said the situation would have been worse if an off-duty fire officer had not been at hand to quickly provide first aid.
Lightning strikes German football pitch, 35 injured, 3 seriously: report Lightning struck a football pitch in western Germany on Saturday, injuring 35 people, three of them seriously, news agency DPA reported.The accident -- which came as 11 people were hurt in a similar freak strike at a birthday party in a Parisian park -- happened at the end of a children's football match in Hoppstaedten, DPA said, citing police.The referee of the children's match was hit directly by the lightning and was rushed to hospital.