SWFL.io - Local NewsDigital Executive Producer: Mahmoud Bennett | WINK Digital Team
•7/6/2026
FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. (WINK) - More than a dozen witnesses and bystanders called into the Lee County Sheriff's Office on Friday after a man was struck by lightning on Fort Myers Beach.
WINK News obtained the 911 audio which captures what witnesses described in the aftermath of the strike which killed 51-year-old Viktar Kiryk and injured three of his family members.
The first 911 calls came in as beachgoers realized something was wrong near the 6600 block of Estero Boulevard.
In one of the earliest calls, a witness reported seeing people in distress near the shoreline.
"There was just a massive lightning and thunder, and someone is screaming from the water, and they're screaming to call 911," a woman told dispatchers.
As the situation escalated, 911 dispatchers began receiving overlapping calls from residents and visitors watching from multiple locations — including balconies and nearby condominiums along Estero Boulevard.
One caller reported being near the victim, and told dispatchers what he saw.
"You just gotta get somebody out here. It looks like he was wearing a necklace, and it like burned his neck completely," the caller said.
"I don't see any movement from the person they dragged. He was him or her was dragged out of the water," another caller told dispatchers from a further location.
Within minutes, multiple callers report that bystanders had already pulled at least one victim from the water and started CPR on the beach.
“They're doing chest compressions," one caller said.
Officials say bystanders began life-saving efforts, and the use of an AED, before emergency crews arrived.
Fort Myers Beach Fire Chief Scott Wirth said crews arrived shortly after 3 p.m. and found one person unresponsive on the sand. Despite lifesaving efforts, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Below is the full set of 911 calls released by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office from the Fort Myers Beach lightning strike.