A massive lightning bolt struck a group of eighth-graders at a football practice outside their New Mexico high school on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
At least four people were injured and one 13-year-old boy is in critical condition after lightning struck the field outside Picacho Middle School in the city of Las Cruces, police said.
Two teenagers, an assistant coach and another person were taken to a hospital, Reuters reported. The 13-year-old, who had to be resuscitated, was taken to the trauma unit at University Medical Center in El Paso, KVIA-TV reported.
The football team was outside practicing Tuesday afternoon when they noticed the sky started to darken and it began raining. They stopped the practice and were heading back when lightning struck a nearby tree.
"It was totally out of the blue, with no warning," Jo Galvan, spokesman for the Las Cruces School District, told Reuters. "They fell over as the current went through the ground."
Chaos ensued as the lightning traveled down from the tree and forced the coach and players to fall.
"There were people panicking, crying, you know, people not knowing who got hit," Emiliano Franco, an eighth-grade football player, told KVIA-TV.
One 13-year-old was reportedly on the ground not breathing when ambulances arrived.
"We didn't see him breathing," Franco said. "He was stiff."
A parent who was on the scene administered CPR to the boy, a teacher from the school told the station.
"If it wasn't for him it would be a different story," music teacher Emmanuel Hernandez said.
Paramedics were able to resuscitate the teen, whose name has not been released. Galvan told Reuters he was breathing on his own by Wednesday.
Picacho school officials canceled all athletic activities as they deal with the traumatic incident.
"It's very unusual," Galvan told KVIA-TV. "I can't remember in my 25 years with the school district this ever happening.
