TMZ.com —————–By Staff —————–Mon., Mar. 22, 2021

Katherine Diaz — one of El Salvador’s top surfers — died on Friday after she was hit in a lightning strike during a training session near her home.

The 22-year-old rising star — who had been gunning to compete for El Salvador at the Olympics in Tokyo — was surfing at a spot called El Tunco when the lightning storm hit.

Katherine’s uncle Beto Diaz told a local media outlet his niece had gone to hug a friend she spotted at the surf spot when lightening struck.

“She, the friend, was thrown by the force of the lightening strike too, the board threw me back. Katherine died instantly.”

Emergency personnel reportedly raced to the scene and scrambled to revive Diaz … but it was too late.

Diaz was a rising star in the sport and beloved by the surf community in El Salvador.

She was expected to compete in the ISA World Surf Games in May — the event is a qualifier for Olympics in Tokyo.

The International Surfing Association issued a statement on her death … saying, “It is with a heavy heart that the ISA has learned about the passing of El Salvador’s Katherine Diaz.”

Full article here: https://www.tmz.com/2021/03/22/katherine-diaz-surfer-killed-lightening-strike-el-salvador/ Via Citizen Free Press.com