A 16-year-old scout was struck by lightning and left in critical condition after a violent afternoon thunderstorm swept through a campsite on Monte Livata, near Subiaco in the Lazio region.
The teenager was retrieving equipment near a tree with two companions when the bolt hit. Fellow scouts performed CPR before emergency services arrived. He was airlifted to the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, where he remains in the pediatric intensive care unit under reserved prognosis. The two other boys were transferred to a hospital in Tivoli in non-critical condition, while several other scouts reported nausea and discomfort following the electrical discharge.
The scout group from Rome had been spending a week at an equipped campsite in the Valle Maiura area. Emergency medical crews and carabinieri from the Subiaco company responded to the scene, with further storms forecast for the following day.