Isobel Bytautus was with a tramping group when she was struck by lightning. Photos / Facebook
Isobel Bytautus was with a tramping group when she was struck by lightning. Photos / Facebook
A woman died in a 10 million to one "freak" accident when she was struck by lightning while hill walking with friends in the Highlands during a thunderstorm.
Isobel Bytautas, 55, died in the incident and a second woman was injured on a ridge in mountains near Fort William, the Daily Telegraph reports.
They were part of a group of seven hill walkers from the Linlithgow Ramblers group which was caught in the brief thunder and lightning storm late on Saturday afternoon local time. The injured woman is in stable condition in Belford Hospital, Kinlochleven.
According to a British Medical Journal article the chances of being hit by lightning are 10,000,000 to one. An estimated 24,000 people are killed each year worldwide.
Bytautas' husband Andrew, a stonemason, and their daughter Ashley, were being comforted by family and friends at their home in Selkirk in the Scottish Borders.
Ashley Bytautas, 30, said on social media that her mother died instantly in a "freak one in a million accident you never think is possible", adding that she was "lost" without her.
She wrote: "Never did I ever think i would have to write this...last night dad and I received the most heartbreaking news imaginable, my beautiful mother and his wife is gone. I cant process it. It doesn't seem real.
"I'm broken. Whilst out on the mountains at Fort William yesterday with the Linlithgow Ramblers, a group of seven were struck by lightning. Mum died instantly, a freak one in a million accident you never think is possible. Can't imagine life without her, I'm lost."
Friends of Isobel Bytautas took to Facebook to pay tribute to her.
Responding to her daughter's post, Ailsa Dickson wrote: "I'm so sorry to hear about your mum. She was honestly the loveliest person and head a heart of gold. Truly one of a kind."
Tracy Bell wrote: "Isobel was one of the most caring people I had the privilege to know...my thoughts and prayers are with you."
The group was on a ridge on 1055m Na Gruagaichean, which lies between Glen Nevis to the north and the village of Kinlochleven to the south, in the Mamores mountain range.
Fourteen members of Glencoe mountain rescue team recovered Bytautas' body which was airlifted off the hill. A Coastguard rescue helicopter also flew the survivors to safety.
Andy Nelson, leader of the Glencoe team, the group was walking in the ridge when lightning struck.
"Most were relatively unscathed," he added. "The deceased was incredibly unlucky. The group were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"It was a short-lived thunderstorm, it lasted about 20 minutes. It was a very heavy sky, there was a flash and then the rumble. We saw a lightning flash.
"The party got straight through to raise the alarm by mobile phone. I can't recall another death in Scotland's mountains caused by lightning.
"It is common in the Alps, and a known risk, but we do not usually get the weather conditions in Scotland on the hills."
The chairman of the rambling group, John Allen, passed on his condolences to Bytautus' family as he paid tribute to the keen walker.
"Isobel was a lovely lady and great company out on the hills. She was always ready to chat away like you had known her forever.
"Isobel became well known within the group, joined us on weekends away and was always keen for an adventure.
"She had a passion for walking in the hills and walking in new places. Isobel was a very caring person and it has been a privilege to have walked with her."
The forecast in the area on Saturday was for dull, rainy conditions, with a 90 per cent chance of rain, but no warning of thunder storms.
The Met Office said it had recorded a number of lightning strikes in the area during the day, fuelled by a low pressure system from Spain, called Storm Miguel.
Mountaineering Scotland states on its website that lightning strikes are relatively rare in the UK but can be can be "extremely violent and often fatal". It adds that strikes are quite frequent on summits and other projections because lightning takes the shortest route to earth.
In 2017, 12-year-old Rian Duncan, 12, suffered burns to his skin after lightning struck his walking pole as he descended Schiehallion in Perthshire.
In 2015, two walkers died and two others were injured in separate lightning strikes in the Brecon Beacons in Powys, Wales.
In January 2013 an American-born scientist, Dr Tim Boyd, died after apparently being struck by lightning in Argyll.
