7 youth hikers taken to Utah hospitals after lightning hits ground near group

Seven members of a youth group hiking in Utah were transported to hospitals after lightning struck the ground near them. Sevier County Sheriff Nathan Curtis says The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints youth group from Salina, Utah, were in the eastern part of Sevier County around 1:45 p.m. Thursday when rain began and the lightning hit. Two hikers had serious symptoms and were flown by helicopter to Primary Children’s Hospital in Lehi, Utah. Five others were transported by ambulances to Sevier Valley Hospital in Richfield and Gunnison Valley Hospital in Gunnison. Curtis says none of the injuries were considered life-threatening and the other hikers were returned to their families in Salina, 139 miles south of Salt Lake City.