Participants in the first edition of the Double challenge of the speckled fishing tournament, at the Ashuapmushuan wildlife reserve, saw their event disrupted on Saturday when lightning struck a pickup truck.
Monday, Steve Gagnon was still shaken by what happened two days ago.
For several years, he cherished the dream of organizing this competition on Lac du Milieu, located not far from the entrance of the wildlife reserve, north of La Doré.
Before dinner, lightning struck the campsite of one of the 170 fishermen. Specifically, he allegedly hit the antenna of a van.
It was unheard of, as if we had said: “There was a meteorite that fell at the end of the lake.” We felt the shock wave, it entered our bodiesdescribed the co-organizer of the fishing tournament, Steeve Gagnon.
Everyone present on the site was shocked by the noise.
A bomb fell on the site. We really felt a big boom. And then I walked over and told everyone to leave the lake. There are about four teams left on the lakesaid another co-organizer, Éric Tanguay.
One participant, Patrick Bourget, even saw lightning in front of him.
We saw him, we were in an open tent, a kind of gazebo, and we saw him fall. It turned white and blue, then there was a ball of fire spread in the passagesaid the fisherman.
Organizers quickly contacted emergency services using a satellite phone.
Two men were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
We have people who have had a bit of a nervous shock, maybe we have people who will be forced to talk about itcontinued Eric Tanguay.
The most affected are clearly those living in the land where the leak occurred.
They thought it was propane that had just exploded. The windshield was all broken, a course tires went out, the generator crashed, the extension wires burnedlisted with Éric Tanguay.
A dozen trucks located within a radius of approximately 150 meters suffered various damage, in addition to various equipment such as generators.
It was pretty unusual and I was wondering why the lightning didn’t fall on the trees. I don’t know how it will work, but we were lucky despite all that because there were a lot of people on the site, almost 200 people.underlined Aurélien Launière, director of the Ashuapmushuan wildlife reserve.
However, this false adventure will not prevent the second edition to be held in 2023.
Based on a report by Laurie Gobeil
Radio Canada
Source: Radio-Canada
