Several Christians were injured, two seriously, reported BosNewsLife’s Netherlands-based partner Website www.manna-vandaag.nl. The group was among over 300 participants attending the gathering of Nederlands Bijbelstudie Centrum (NBC), or ‘Netherlands Bible Study Center,’ led by well-known Dutch Bible teacher Ab Klein-Haneveld.
Medical teams reportedly rushed the men and women to hospital where they stayed overnight for observation, before being released, said Dutch journalist and author Johan Th. Bos, who attended the meeting.
Bos, the father of BosNewsLife founder Stefan J. Bos, was preparing to write songs for the meeting when lightning struck the mountainous camping facility at Wuppertal’s main Christian center Bundeshöhe, where the week-long conference was held.
"GOD’S PROTECTION"
German media said surviving the incident was "special luck," but Idea, a news agency of the German Evangelical Alliance, called it a sign of "God’s protection." Witnesses said Dutchmen Jan Jaap Bakker en Pieter Speelman were in serious condition after they were struck by lightning while setting up a party tent. They were apparently electrocuted when lightning hit a tent rod.
Medics reportedly said the two men survived because they were "very wet" which ensured that the electricity "quickly left their bodies." Speelman, himself a medical doctor, cautioned that his heart was "seriously hit" and that it was unclear when, and if, he would recover completely.
Others struck by lightning included the six-year-old daughter of Johan Vink, a Gospel singer of Dutch group Basic. He said he witnessed his daughter "flying in the air." The girl apparently told her father she had experienced electrical shocks from head till tones.
PREGNANT WOMAN
Among others hit was an eight-month pregnant woman, Tamara Schumann, however doctors said her child did not suffer any harm. Schumann, and her husband, were also "pushed into the air" and said they saw "blue light everywhere," witnesses recalled.
Vink said he was "impressed with the speed and effectiveness of the rescue teams and doctors" in the hospital.
The lightning incident came amid rainstorms across Germany.
