LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE

A college student survived A lightning strike while mountain climbing, but was killed in a second strike. Ryan Sayers, 20, of Colorado Springs , Colorado , and his German girlfriend Katrin Birmann, 24, were climbing a cliff on Steeple Peak , central Wyoming , on 16 June 2003 when lightning hit them 1,500ft (469m) from the summit. Removing their equipment, they decided to sit out the storm, but about an hour later they were hit by a second lightning strike, and Sayers fell about 300ft (90m) into a ravine. Birmann, who suffered minor burns, found her boyfriend dead when she rappelled down to him. A rescue team recovered the body the next day. An examination determined he died from the lightning strikes, not the fall. Associated Press, 20 June 2003.