Bulgaria: Lightning Killed an 11-year-old Boy in Ruse, another one is in Critical Condition

Two 11-year-old boys were struck by lightning yesterday afternoon at the "Dunav" stadium in Ruse. One of the children died, the condition of the other remains serious.

The boys are from the children's school of the local football club and were training on one of the auxiliary pitches at the "Dunav" stadium when lightning struck.

The injured children were taken by 2 ambulances to the two university hospitals in the city. The boy was brought to "Kanev" hospital in clinical death. He was resuscitated for an hour, but the doctors were unable to save him.

The other child was taken to "Medica" Hospital, also clinically dead. The resuscitation team on duty was able to restore his basic vital signs. He is intubated, in a medically induced coma, and in critical condition. Consultations are underway to determine if there are additional disabilities, the health facility said.

"The child is in an extremely serious condition. From all the tests that have been done, it appears that it is a case of severe damage to the whole body as a result of the trauma. There is talk of affecting the heart, liver and lungs, with brain drain. At the moment he is stabilized," said Dr. Blanche Angelova from UMBAL "Medica" to Nova TV on Thursday morning.

"If necessary, I have permission from the owners of the hospital to seek pediatric intensive care from 'Pirogov' hospital", Angelova pointed out. She emphasized that she cannot commit to a prognosis, but the doctors are doing everything necessary.

"The stadium has been under concession since 2018, for five years it has not been managed by the municipality, but by a concessionaire," said the mayor of Ruse, Pencho Milkov. He stressed that a compliance check was being launched.

"This is a huge tragedy both for the 'Dunav' football club and for the city. We are all shocked by what happened", commented for BTA the chairman of the Board of Directors of PFC "Dunav" (Ruse) Diyan Dimov.

"We offer our condolences to the relatives and parents of the deceased child. We pray that the other boy recovers," said Dimov.

The two children are part of the children's and youth school of "Dunav" and had training on an artificial field located above the main field.

"I wasn't at the practice. What was explained to me is that it was cloudy before the incident, but there was no prerequisite for a thunderstorm. It happened suddenly. There were also parents watching their children during the practice of how they train," explained Dimov.

According to him, the coaches are instructed to take the children to the locker rooms in case of bad weather.

He said the case is under investigation.

"The concessionaire of the stadium explained that there are lightning rods. There are also many buildings near the field that also have lightning rods. I cannot explain how this situation came to be," said Dimov.

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