OSAKA (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) – A lightning strike left two dead and eight injured at a music festival featuring a number of j-pop acts in Nagai Park in the Sumiyoshi Ward of Osaka on August 18th.
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, lightning struck a tree near the entrance to the park at approximately 2:20 PM, knocking several people over, including Haruhi Kinoshita and Makiko Iwanaga, both 22. Kinoshita, Iwanaga and two other concert-goers were taken to the hospital where Kinoshita was pronounced dead. Iwanaga died on the following day.
"I heard a huge noise and saw a flash," a witness told the Yomiuri. "When I opened my eyes, I saw three women lying on their backs. Their necks and sides had been scorched. I tried to speak to them, but two didn't answer."
The concert, which featured J-pop acts including Exile and Every Little Thing drew more than 55,000 people to the park and was scheduled to start at 3:30 PM but was delayed by one hour after the strike. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
