Witness recalls events after man struck by lightning at Fort Myers Beach

FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. (WINK)—A 51-year-old man died after being struck by lightning in the Gulf on Friday.

WINK News obtained the Lee County Sheriff's Office report and spoke with a witness who was at the scene. Nearly a dozen 911 calls were made in the minutes after the lightning strike took the life of Viktar Kiryk.

"They're doing chest compression. Someone struck by lightning," one 911 caller said.

Another caller described the chaotic scene.

"On the beach. On the beach, someone was struck by lightning close to them. They were in the ocean water, and people were screaming out there, calling for 911, and it's not good," the caller said.

Kiryk was struck in the Gulf just off the beach near the Seawatch hotel. The sheriff's report says his wife, daughter, and son-in-law were all taken to the hospital with injuries.

Matt Wojciechowski was leaving the beach when he heard the crack of thunder.

"It's out of an instant, we hear - boom, big crack, thunder," Wojciechowski said.

Wojciechowski's mother, a nurse visiting the area from Cleveland, was one of four medical-trained bystanders on the beach who tried to help Kiryk. One person took an AED from one of the buildings, trying to help while dozens of other people watched from their balconies, calling 911.

"There was no warning at all. I mean, everybody, there were a lot of people on the beach too. There were probably, I'd say, about 50 people going down that way, and he was probably the only one in the water," Wojciechowski said.

The 911 calls flooded in, including a man who watched as an AED was brought to the beach. He told dispatch Kiryk had been badly burned by a necklace, and the pads of the AED were slipping off.

Emergency services arrived and provided life-saving care to Kiryk, but he died on the beach. Wojciechowski told WINK News reporter Brinkley Hill that in the days since Kiryk's death, beachgoers have been more cautious if they see a storm coming.

"Lightning is nothing to play with down here, especially if you're by the water. I hope people just listen to that message, and they take the proper precautions," Wojciechowski said.

Wojciechowski said the incident has stayed with him.

"I just feel so bad for the family. I can't get them out of my mind, and that image is just hanging in there," Wojciechowski said.