A group of church youth were injured after lightning struck near them while they were hiking in Utah.
A total of 50 teenagers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints experienced the terrifying moment on Thursday near Salina Canyon in Sevier County.
Shocking video showed the exact moment the lightning struck the group, while one teenager, Jacob Johnson, 18, was seen lying on the muddy ground after being hit.
According to police, Johnson and six others were taken to the hospital. He was released a few hours later due to a mild concussion. On Friday, the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office reported that all but one of the teens had been released from the hospital.
“I remember feeling like I was hit in the head with a baseball bat. I flew forward and passed out,” Johnson said. Eastern Idaho News.
Seven teenagers were injured after being struck by lightning Thursday near Salina Canyon in Sevier County. Johnson is seen lying on the muddy ground after being struck by lightning.
The sheriff’s office said two of the injured teens “were transported by medical helicopter to Primary Children’s Hospital in Lehi,” while the other five were taken to Gunnison Hospital and Sevier Valley Hospital.
The video of the terrifying moment begins with a girl and her friends laughing as they walk through the muddy ground.
The little girl who was recording the terrifying moment was waving to her mother and capturing memories just before lightning struck.
-Hi, Mom. We’re going for a walk. Look at my shoes: they’re soaked – says the girl.
He then turns the camera to his friends standing next to him as they wave at the camera and say hello.
At that moment, a huge roar of thunder takes over everything, along with a great flash of bright lightning.
The girl’s phone falls as rain is seen falling from the dark clouds above.
“I just got hit, I just got hit, oh my God,” one girl says.
The group, wrapped in garbage bags to avoid getting wet in the rain, begin to look at each other in complete panic.
A blue backpack lies on the ground as the little girl filming begins to cry and says: ‘Mommy, we’re going to hit, mommy, I just got hit!’
A total of 50 teenagers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lived through the terrifying moment
Jacob Johnson, 18, was seen lying on the muddy ground after being hit. He was released from the hospital a few hours later with a mild concussion.
The camera then pans to Johnson, lying on the ground, covered in a black garbage bag, his eyes closed.
A child says: “I was just hit, I’m fine, but he’s not doing so well.”
The camera pans to show other teens along the muddy path as the boy continues, “A couple more people got hit.”
A group of girls are seen crying in terror as they try to understand what just happened.
They start hugging each other and telling each other to breathe, while one girl says, “You’re okay, you’re okay.”
Another member then tells everyone to keep walking as the video ends.
Johnson recalled what he thought moments before a bolt of lightning struck him to the ground.
“We started walking and it started snowing heavily. I remember thinking, ‘This is a little scary,'” she said.
As he lay on the ground, he recalled thoughts and questions running through his mind.
“I was thinking, ‘Is this it? Did I just die?’ I was thinking about all the things I still wanted to accomplish in my life,” Johnson said.
“And I felt an overwhelming sense of love from my Heavenly Father because I knew I had more to do in this world and from that moment on, I knew everything was going to be okay.”
Another member, Peyton Bailey, 14, said the powerful blow immediately knocked her to the ground.
He The sheriff’s office said Two of the injured teens were flown by medical helicopter to Primary Children’s Hospital in Lehi, while the other five were taken to Gunnison Hospital and Sevier Valley Hospital.
Another member, Peyton Bailey, 14, said Fox 13 nowThe powerful blow immediately knocked her to the ground.
“There was so much light and the sound was so loud. I felt a ringing in my ears and it felt like a weight had hit my head and pushed me back,” Bailey recalled.
He said that before the hike, the teens and their parents were warned about the severe weather ahead.
‘And we all decided to leave as if it was nobody’s fault.
“We had medical vehicles traveling alongside us as we walked and I think that’s why we were able to get the kids out so quickly, because we had those medical vehicles ready,” he said.
Bailey said she is grateful that no one was killed or seriously injured in the near-death experience.
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