A soccer player was struck by lightning during a match over the weekend in Peru, killing him and wounding four other players in a horrific incident caught on a live video stream of the game. The lightning bolt struck José Hugo De la Cruz Meza, 39, a defender for the Chocca Family team, as players and referees were walking off the field due to worsening weather at the Coto Coto stadium near the city of Huancayo on Sunday, according to Peru’s state-run Andina news agency.
De la Cruz died immediately from the strike, Peruvian news outlets reported, before he was taken to a local hospital. The team’s goalkeeper Juan Chocca Llacta, De la Cruz’s cousin, was left in serious condition, and three other players sustained burns.
The video of the strike shows the players walking calmly off the field when a flash of light briefly engulfs Meza.
He and about half of a dozen other players immediately fall over. Llacta, who was walking right next to Meza, and five other players who were slightly farther away, can be seen moving again quickly, with some appearing to roll around in pain, but the clip does not show De la Cruz move again.
Video from after the match, which was ended after the lighting strike about 20 minutes into play, showed people looking at scorch marks on the grass where the lightning struck.
Llacta, who survived his serious injuries, told Peru’s Daily Mail newspaper on Monday that they were walking off the field together with their arms around one another just before the lightning strike.
“I let go of him, we took three steps and the lightning hit us,” he was quoted as saying. “… I felt a flash of light in my head and my mind went blank, and then I don’t remember anything else. I regained consciousness in the hospital. I thank God for giving me a chance at life. I’m surprised I am alive.”
According to the newspaper, De la Cruz’s family held a wake for him in his hometown near Huancayo, putting his fire-scorched uniform on display next to his coffin.
The Daily Mail reported his family was seeking financial support from local authorities to help cover the expense of the funeral, and for the future, as his wife has been left to support three young children on her own.
