Three people were taken to hospital after reports of a lightning strike at charter airline buildings near the Calgary International Airport Wednesday afternoon.
Paramedics later said they believe there were two scenes related to the same lightning strike. No buildings were damaged.
EMS assessed four people in the 500 Palmer Rd. N.E. at around 2:30 p.m. Two men believed to be in their late 20s were taken to hospital in stable condition “suffering from symptoms consistent with electrical shock.”
A short time later, paramedics assessed a man in his 20s at a nearby location. He was taken to Rockyview General Hospital in stable condition.
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Paramedics said a person doesn’t need to actually be struck by lightning to feel effects as something called “area effect” – or extreme closeness—can also leave an impact.
“It doesn’t sound like they were directly struck, what it sounds like is that they were more in the immediate area of the lighting strike,” EMS spokesperson Nate Pike said.
“One of the things that people don’t realize about lightning is that you don’t have to be directly struck. Even if you’re in the vicinity, because of the way the electricity travels, you’re still definitely at risk.”
The first lightning strike was reported near the Canadian North and North Cariboo Air aircraft buildings.
With files from Mia Sosiak and Janet Lore