Twenty-four hours after the violent impact of lightning which fell, Monday afternoon, on the racecourse of Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne (Ain), the three professionals of the world of trotting are still marked but left the Bourg-en-Bresse hospital and returned home.
“I feel pain all over my left side, confides the driver The driver, Georges Fournigault.
The doctor told me that I had been incredibly lucky not to stay there.
I am going to rest because I am extremely tired.
“Axel Cury suffers from a burn on his arm while his father, Bernard, must pass other examinations, in particular a scanner.
According to the medical profession, he is forced to wait, because with the electricity he still has in him, it could worsen his state of health.
“Everyone was scared”
Météo France had placed, on Monday, May 23, twelve departments of the Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes region on "storms" alert, including that of Ain in which the Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne racecourse is located.
Located about fifty kilometers from Lyon, this multidisciplinary racetrack offered, this Monday afternoon, its sixth meeting of the year out of the seven annual ones.
The first three races took place without incident as indicated by the driver, Lucas Verrière, 28, winner of the second event: “There were no storms despite heavy rain at the start of the meeting.
It rushed after the third race devoted to gallopers.
While Bertrand Cury and his son, Axel, were hitching up, along with their driver, Georges Fournigault, their boarder,
Hérisau de Paumar
, lightning struck this 5-year-old trotter, killing him instantly.
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Following this extremely rare incident, the last five races of this meeting dedicated to trotters and gallopers were logically cancelled, and a feeling of panic invaded the racecourse, as the son of Jean-Louis Verrière admits: "Everyone everyone was scared.
The paramedics and firefighters arrived very quickly, taking care of the injured professionals, followed by the gendarmes.
The atmosphere was heavy.
The drivers, trainers and team staff were in shock.
This is the first time that I have witnessed such a tragedy.
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