15 hospitalized after lightning strikes golf course

NORTH STONINGTON, Conn. (WTNH) -- Fifteen golf course workers were taken to the hospital after lightning struck near a building they were in at the Lake of Isles golf course in North Stonington.

The maintenance crew members were hard at work when they heard thunder. Fifteen of them ran into a building on the course for shelter, but they were not quite sheltered enough. Carlos Pascual is the cousin of one of the workers.

"He was with a couple guys who were walking in and it's like electricity hit his body," he said. "Like hit him in the body and he just passed out on the floor."

Two of Pascual's brothers were also the crew taking care of the Lake of Isles golf course. His brothers and cousin were all transported to the hospital.

"He had all the burns all over his body, like electricity burned his body. That's what I saw," he said.

Lake of Isles is on land owned by Foxwoods, but the course is run by a company called Troon. Archie Cart, the General Manager says these 15 employees, or associates as he calls them, did the right thing in seeking shelter because the last place you want to be during a thunderstorm is out in the open on a golf course.

"They followed exactly what they were supposed to do," Cart said. "Those closest to the maintenance building went inside the maintenance building, those close to the enclosed shelter, and there are two of them on the property, go to those buildings."

But medical experts say even inside a building, lightning can still find you.

"Through equipment, through water, through anything mechanical. Those are the things you avoid during storms where there is thunder and lightning," explained Sandee Gelven, the Emergency Services Director at Backus Hospital.  

Fortunately, everyone involved says the injuries to these men are not life threatening.