[imagesource:pickpik]

Horrifying live TV coverage of a Peruvian football match captured the moment three players were struck down by lightning, with one killed in a direct hit.

The video shows players and referees slowly strolling off the pitch at Chilca’s Coto Coto Stadium after Sunday’s game between Juventud Bellavista and Familia Chocca was halted in the first half due to a storm warning.

The warning came a bit too late as with a violent snap, at least eight players dropped like bowling pins, with a flash striking two of them on the right side of the screen.

Jose Hugo de la Cruz Meza, a 39-year-old defender, was killed, while goalkeeper Juan Chocca Llacta, 40, was rushed to a local hospital with severe burns. Two teenagers and a 24-year-old man were also injured, but are listed as being in stable condition, reports said.

It all happened so quickly as if God snapped his fingers and yelled “Substitute!”

It is not the first time such an event has occurred during a game in the high-altitude region; around ten years ago, a lightning strike left 21-year-old soccer player Joao Contreras in the hospital with second-degree burns.

In reaction to the most recent incident, Lucho Duarte, an engineer who also documented the hit, urged for new safety measures to safeguard the players, including lightning rods.

[source:nypost]