Lighting kills 25-year-old American woman minutes before engagement

Max Patch (US), June 8(ANI): A 25-year-old American woman was killed by lighting minutes before her engagement in Max Patch, U.S.

Lightning struck as Bethany Lott, 25, and her boyfriend Richard Butler, 30, of Knoxville, Tennessee, were on their way to the top of Max Patch Bald in Madison County.ichard suffered third degree burns.

He said that he remembers three bursts of lightning, and thinks the third struck Bethany.

"She was probably five feet in front of me, so given the incline, she was a good bit higher than me, but it jumped to me. I was spun 180 degrees and thrown several feet back," The Citizen Times quoted Richard, as saying. My legs turned to Jell-O, my shoes were smoking and the bottom of my feet felt like they were on fire," he added.

The 30-year-old further said that when he was able to recover, he made an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Bethany.

"She didn't say anything, and I turned around and she was laying a few feet away, and I crawled to her. I did CPR for probably 15 minutes and the whole time was trying her cell phone, but I couldn't get anything out," he added.

Later, when rescuers tried in vain to bring Bethany back to life, Butler said that he crouched near her body to put the engagement ring.

"I put the ring on her finger while the EMTs were working on her. They are listing me as her fianci in the obituaries," he said (ANI)