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Girls struck by lightning in Summit County expected to make full recovery

Posted at 10:44 PM, Aug 08, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-09 09:27:06-04

SALT LAKE CITY — The family of three young sisters who were struck by lightning near the Utah-Wyoming border Friday said the girls are expected to make a full recovery.

The Thompson family, of Evanston, Wyoming, were fishing on the shore of Summit County’s Lilly Lake when a storm rolled in Friday afternoon.

“At that point the father told the three young girls to go over into some trees and lay down to try to avoid the lightning, unfortunately the lightning struck right where they were: hitting the three little girls,” said Lt. Andrew Wright with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.

The girls’ father immediately rendered CPR, reviving two of them, who were then taken by helicopter to a Salt Lake City hospital in critical condition. The third was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Wyoming.

“We would like to thank the community for their thoughts and prayers for our three daughters, who were injured by lightning during a family outing Friday, Aug. 4,” a statement from the Thompson family said. “We are happy to say that the girls, ages 7, 6, and 3, are healing well and are expected to make a full recovery. At this time, we ask for privacy so that we can maintain our focus on the health and healing of our children.”

The Thompson family also thanked the first responders, the doctors, nurses and staff at Primary Children’s Medical Center and those at Evanston Regional Hospital.

“We also would like to encourage everyone to become trained in CPR. We know that without our CPR training, two of our children may not have survived their injuries that day. CPR truly does save lives,” the Thompson family’s statement said.