Three hurt in soccer game lightning strike

DORCHESTER, Mass., July 21 (UPI) -- Three people remained hospitalized Monday after lightning struck during a Massachusetts soccer game, hitting nine men and a boy under a tree.

The victims were playing soccer in Dorchester, Mass., Sunday when a quick-moving storm overtook the area and drenched the field in nearly an inch of rain. That was followed by a bright flash and "people falling like bricks," a witness told the Boston Herald.

"I was thanking God that nobody got killed right there and then," witness Carlos Gonzoles told the newspaper. "It's a miracle that nobody died. I don't even have words to explain how dangerous that was."

Emergency officials said nine men and a 12-year-old boy were taken to Boston hospitals, with two of the men suffering heart attacks and the boy sustaining minor burns. All of the victims are expected to survive, the Herald reported.