CLEARWATER, Fla. – Two people were injured, one critically, from a lightning strike Sunday on Clearwater Beach, officials said.
Officials received a call around 2:15 p.m. as a line of storms moved onshore from the Gulf of Mexico, officials said.
Gacek Arkadiusz, 37, of Des Plaines, Illinois, was unconscious and not breathing when police arrived at the scene around 2:15 p.m., officials said. An officer began CPR until lifeguards arrived and took over medical treatment.
Arkadiusz was taken to a hospital in critical condition where he remains as of Monday, Clearwater police said.
Sav Keomany, 43, of Pickerington, Ohio, who was a few feet away, was taken to the hospital in stable condition. On Monday officials said he had been released from the hospital.
Authorities said the men were leaving the beach because of the storms and were about halfway between the waterline and the sand dunes when they were struck.