Lightning strike kills 13-year-old girl while walking on beach

The incident occurred on Friday on a beach in the town of Posidi. According to media reports, the girl was walking on the beach with her mother when she was struck by lightning at around 3 p.m. It had been raining heavily in the region since the morning.

“We were at the beach with the whole family. We came out of the sea in drizzling rain. Lightning struck right in front of us,” the teenager’s father told the media. The man reported that the family fled the sea to seek shelter from the approaching storm.

“My wife was walking in front, my daughter behind her. They both fell into the sand (…) We came out of the sea. Lightning struck and my child never got up again.” he added.

The 13-year-old was taken to a health center, but her life could not be saved. The family comes from the nearby town of Nea Moudania.

Deaths from lightning strikes are rare in Greece. Special caution is required during thunderstorms.

According to scientists at the University of Patras, 23 people died from lightning strikes in Greece between 2010 and 2019. In 2020, a woman died while working on a farm during a storm, and in 2023, a 26-year-old British man was fatally struck by lightning while swimming in the sea off the coast of Rhodes.