17 injured in lightning strike at Ontario food festival

A storm rapidly swept over an outdoor food festival in Whitby, Ont., on Sunday afternoon, leading to a sudden lightning strike that sent more than a dozen people to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Lightning struck a tent at the Whitby Ribfest just before 2 p.m. ET, leaving at least 17 people injured.

Colin O’Regan, the chair of the event, said the storm rolled in quickly and the sudden change in conditions was startling.

"Our patrons, they were within a large dining tent that’s on the site, sitting and enjoying their lunch and enjoying the music," O’Regan told CBC News in a telephone interview.

"And obviously, there was a strike to one of the tent poles and has obviously led us to the point where there was 17 people that have been injured."

O’Regan said the injured parties were taken to two area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.

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[link to www.cbc.ca]