11 injured in Paris lightning strike, 6 seriously

Eleven people including 10 children were hurt Saturday when lightning struck a Paris park, a local official said, adding that six of the victims were seriously injured.

"There are currently 11 injured unfortunately, 10 children and an adult who was accompanying them," Vincent Baladi told iTELE television, saying they had been "struck by lightning".

Paris police gave a slightly different toll of eight children and three adults injured.

The accident happened at Parc Monceau as a thunder storm rumbled over the French capital. The park, in a well-heeled neighbourhood of the city's northwest, is popular with families at the weekend.

"We have six (children) who urgently need medical treatment but we hope they will all pull through," said Baladi, who handles security matters in Paris' eighth arrondissement where the park is located.

"They have burns," he said, adding that paramedics and firefighters were at the scene. "The lightning struck suddenly."