Lightning strikes hikers in South Korea, 5 killed and 6 injured

South Korea's hikers were struck by lightning at the mountains outside Seoul over the weekend. Five people were killed and the other six were injured, South Korea's disaster management agency said Monday . 

Photo: Lightning strikes hikers in South Korea, 5 killed and 6 injured

Four of the dead were hit while hiking at Bukhan Mountain just north of Seoul in the rain on Sunday, and the other was hiking at Surak Mountain just west of Seoul around the same time, the National Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.

Six other hikers were hospitalized with burns and other injuries, the agency said.

In the Bukhan Mountain strike, lightning knocked one of the victims, identified only as Ahn, 57, about 15 meters (49 feet), the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said.

The paper quoted 55-year-old survivor Kang Han-chol as saying, "Suddenly, light flashed before my eyes and I was knocked backward."

Another survivor, Yang Dong-hoon, 57, fell unconscious when he touched an iron rope at the mountain.

"When I awoke, my socks were torn and I had burns on my feet," he told the newspaper.