Two Beachgoers Struck By Lightning At Clearwater Beach Sunday

CLEARWATER, FL – One visitor remains in critical condition but the other has been released from the hospital following a lightning strike Sunday on the northern part of Clearwater Beach.

Clearwater Police and Clearwater Fire & Rescue were called to the scene at about 2:15 p.m. as a line of storms moved onshore from the Gulf of Mexico.

The visitors, Gacek Arkadiusz, 37, of Des Plaines, Illinois, and Sab Keomany, 43, of Pickerington, Ohio, were trying to leave the beach at the end of Somerset Street about halfway between the water line and the dunes when the lightning struck.

Arkadiusz was unconcious and not breathing when lifeguards found him and began CPR. Clearwater Fire & Rescue took over treating him and then took him to Morton Plant Hospital where he remains in critical condition.

Keomany was a few feet away. He was taken to the hospital in stable condition where he was treated and released.

"If you are close enough to a storm to hear thunder, please seek shelter and head indoors," police said.