A runner taking part in an endurance event high in the Greek mountains was killed in a lightning strike.

Another was injured in the freak event in the early hours of this morning.

The group was running the Six Peaks race, which takes in the highest points of Mount Falakro in northern Greece.

They were at an altitude of around 4,400ft when a lightning strike hit two of the competitors.

While the weather had been good when they set off, fair conditions made way for heavy rain as the day wore on.

By the time the lightning struck several of the 55 runners taking part had already reached the finish line. 

A dozen runners were still making their way to the end at a ski resort when the tragedy happened.

Two squads of firefighters raced up the mountain from a nearby town to find a 56-year-old man seriously injured and another man, 55, dead.

The injured runner was airlifted to a hospital in the city of Kavala, where authorities said he was badly injured.

The 22.2 mile race had started at 7pm on Saturday in the village of Pyrgoi, 2,066ft up the slopes of the 7,323ft mountain.

Falakro’s six highest peaks in Greece are all over 6,500ft high and the mountain extends into Bulgaria.

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