Lightning Orphans Utah Children

A couple was killed and their three small children injured by lightning that struck a mountain campground where the family sought shelter under trees.

A day after the Saturday lightning strike, a 14-year-old Maine girl died after being struck by lightning while playing in a soccer tournament across the border in New Brunswick, Canada.

The couple killed Saturday and their children had taken cover when a storm hit near the shore of Crystal Lake, about 60 miles east of Salt Lake City in the 12,000-foot Uinta mountain range. The parents, Richard and Lisa Goff, were sitting on metal chairs when lightning struck, the woman's sister, Lori Ostler, told KUTV-TV of Salt Lake City.

The parents, both 34, were from the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan. KUTV reported that the children are Dakota Goff, 9, and his sisters Makenzie, 5, and Megan, 18 months.

The youngest girl is in good condition at University Hospital in Salt Lake City, a hospital spokesman said. The others were reported in fair condition at Primary Children's Medical Center.

"When both (parents) are taken, it's incredible," Ostler said. "How do you begin to keep this family intact? You tell the little boy who saw his parents get killed that they won't be back, they're gone."

In Fredericton, New Brunswick, Sarah McLain of Springfield, Maine, died after being hit by lightning Sunday on a field during the championship game of an annual youth soccer tournament. About 20 other players were taken to a hospital as a precaution.

Witnesses said the weather gave no warning of the lightning strike.