Finnish brothers killed by lightning as they heated sauna

Finnish police say they suspect two men died from a lightning strike’s electric charge while they were heating up a sauna near a summer cottage in eastern Finland.

The brothers, born in 1950 and 1953, had arrived at the cottage in Juuka, a community of 3,200 in the Northern Karelia region, with their sister and gone out to heat up sauna late Friday when a very loud bang was heard.

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The woman ran out of the cottage to find her brothers on the ground. A nearby spruce tree was also damaged. Police suspect the lightning struck the tree, and then its powerful electric charge was conducted into the men’s bodies by the wet soil.

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Finland does not often see lightning deaths about one every two years, on average.