Lightning strikes near White House

At least four people have suffered severe injuries following a lightning strike in Lafayette Park in front of the White House, emergency services in Washington DC confirmed on Thursday evening.

“Apparent lightning strike Lafayette Park NW,” the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department tweeted, adding that first responders were “on scene in the process of treating and transporting 4 patients, all in critical condition.”

Two adult male and two female victims were rushed to local hospitals with “critical life threatening injuries,” the authorities added.

Secret Service agents and US Park Police officers who witnessed the strike “immediately began to render aid” to the victims, according to a spokesperson for the DC Fire and EMS, Vito Maggiolo.

The victims were found in “the vicinity of a tree,” Maggiolo added. “All we know for sure is that there was a lightning strike in their immediate vicinity, and all four were injured.”