2 teenage sisters killed by lightning in Norway mountains

Two Norwegian teenage sisters were killed when struck by lightning during a hike in the southern Norway mountains

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Two Norwegian teenage sisters were killed when struck by lightning during a hike in the southern Norway mountains, authorities said Monday. A third person, a sister to the pair, was seriously injured and was hospitalized. The sisters, identified as Benedicte Myrset, 18, and 12-year-old Victoria Myrset from Oslo, were hit by lightning in the mountainous area of Hareid Sunday. They were on the Melshorn mountain, a popular destination, when the accident happened. Officials in Hareid said a third person, also a sister in the same family but who was not named, was injured and taken to a nearby hospital. She was then transferred to a larger hospital in Bergen, Norway’s second largest city. Bergen is 308 kilometers (191 miles) northwest of Oslo. In a statement, Hareid Mayor Bernt Brandal called it “a deeply tragic event” that no one could have predicted because the weather “changed tremendously fast.”