A video captures the moment a group of about 50 teens hiking along a Utah trail were struck by lightning. The video, captured by one of the teens, shows her and her friends walking along a muddy trail when all of a sudden there's thunder followed by screams.
Then, the camera falls and a girl's panicked voice says, "I just got hit. I just got hit. Oh my gosh, I just got hit." In the background, another teen is on the ground. A boy says, "I just got hit. I'm okay, but he's not doing too well." The boy on the ground looks almost lifeless. In the remainder of the video, the teens can be heard crying and comforting each other.
50 teens struck by lightning
Peyton Bailey, the 14-year-old who filmed the incident, explained what she say after lightning struck the ground. "I fell over to the ground and I got back up and I could see that some people were not getting up," she told Inside Edition.
Jacob Johnson, the teen who was knocked unconscious in the video, said that all he remembered of the incident was hearing a large explosion. "And then, my head really hurt and I blacked out. I don't remember much until I woke up on the ground there," he said.
Alyssa Rosquist, a 17-year-old in the group, said she was thankful to be alive. "We believe that it was angels also helping us. It wasn't a coincidence whatsoever, but we really saw God's hand and he was definitely watching over us," she said.
In a statement, Sevier County Sheriff Nathan Curtis explained that the teens were part of a youth group with the Church of Jesus of Latter-Day Saints from Salina, Utah. They were hiking in Salina Canyon in central Utah.
According to the statement, lightning struck the ground along the trail the teens were hiking during a storm on June 27 at around 1:45 p.m. About 50 of the teens felt the shock while seven needed medical treatment due to concerns of electrocution. Two teens with serious symptoms had to be airlifted to a nearby hospital. Fortunately, none of the injuries were life-threatening.
