LIGHTNING
© TT
A 51-year-old woman died on Saturday after she was struck by lightning during a storm near the city of Eskilstuna.

The victim had gone for a walk in the municipality of Kvicksund - a fifteen-minute drive from the city of Eskilstuna (Södermanland County)- when she was caught out in the open by a heavy thunderstorm.

"Once the (Saturday morning) storm had passed, relatives began to worry why the woman hadn't returned home and went out to look for her," police officer Martin Detterström told Swedish news agency TT.

The woman's family found her around 3.30 in the afternoon lying on the ground unconscious.

Emergency services were unable to resuscitate her.

The victim's 40-year-old friend was also seriously injured during the meteorological incident and is currently being treated at Mälardalens Hospital in Eskilstuna.

There were 10,000 electric discharges in the Swedish skies on Friday alone and 20,000 on July 29th, but many of these lightning bolts never strike the ground.

On average, only person is killed by lightning every year in Sweden.