Several injured by lightning strikes in Western Europe

Lightning strikes in northern France and southwest Germany have left nine people seriously injured, authorities have said.

Eleven people, eight of them children, were injured when lightning struck a park in Paris, according to the French interior ministry.

The incident occurred at the popular Parc Monceau in Paris' eighth arrondissement on Saturday afternoon.

The children were aged between 7 and 14, according to local media reports, and were reportedly attending a birthday party.

Councilor Karen Taieb was quoted by the Associated Press as saying the victims had been hit by lightning after they took shelter under a tree during a storm.

The interior ministry statement said that six people had been seriously injured in the lightning strike at Parc Monceau.

A separate lighting strike at a children's football match in Hoppstaetten in the German region of Rheinland-Pfalz left the referee and two other adults seriously injured.

Twenty-nine children were taken to hospital as a precaution.