SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – There was no sign of danger before the white flash and loud bang of a lightning bolt threw an Austrian teacher to the ground as he hiked 9,000-feet up in the mountains of Northern California.
The lightning threw Mathias Steinhuber to the ground, tore off his clothes and burned a gaping hole in his shoe.
He recounted the horrifying tale to The Associated Press from his Sacramento hospital room on Thursday.
Steinhuber and two companions were hiking the Pacific Crest trail at the end of a trip to the U.S. when he was struck.
He was so stunned he thought he had fallen down the mountain until his girlfriend screamed that he had been struck by lightning. Steinhuber was airlifted out by helicopter and is in fair condition, though he can’t hear in one ear.
