Lightning strike injures 17 at Canada food fest

OTTAWA – Seventeen people were injured and taken to hospital Sunday after lightning struck a tent pole at an outdoor food festival in eastern Canada during a storm, police and officials said.

“There was a strike to one of the tent poles,” Whitby Ribfest organizer Colin O’Regan told public broadcaster CBC, adding the injured had been eating inside the tent when the incident occurred.

Police said the 17 people were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The town of Whitby is located in Ontario province, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) east of Toronto.