Killed by lightning
Nine-year-old dies in front of father at football coaching as sudden storm sweeps in
A BOY of nine was killed in front of his stepfather by a bolt of lightning that ‘ came out of nowhere’ during a football coaching session.
Jordan Banks, who was hailed by his club as ‘an inspiration to everyone that he met’, was having one-to-one training on Tuesday afternoon.
He was struck shortly after 5pm. Paramedics and an air ambulance were sent to the playing fields in Blackpool, but Jordan died in hospital.
Yesterday family members including his stepfather, Dan Begg, 35, and mother Danielle, 38, made an emotional visit to the playing fields.
School friends left messages on footballs alongside a growing pile of floral tributes. Blackpool Tower was lit up red in tribute to the young Liverpool FC fan.
Jordan, who played for Clifton Rangers under-nine ‘Bees’ side, was receiving extra coaching on council-owned pitches as Mr Begg watched from his car.
According to the Met Office some 2,400 bolts hit the country over the course of the day. Stephen Hitchen, who manages another of the club’s under-nine teams, said: ‘The weather came in so fast, it went so dark, so quickly, and then there was a big flash and a bang. The lightning came out of nowhere.’
In a tribute last night, Jordan’s family said: ‘Yesterday our worlds stopped. We lost the brightest star, our beautiful boy Jordan. His laugh, that infectious smile, golden curls, he was our everything. Wise beyond his years, caring, considerate, generous and so loving.’
Jordan was a pupil at Stanley Primary in Blackpool. Co-headteachers Craig England and Jane Murphy, said the school was ‘completely numb’, adding: ‘Jordan’s family should be very proud of the young man he had become.’
In January Jordan ran 30 miles over ten days and raised £3,000 in support of a mental health counselling service in memory of his stepfather’s brother Reece, who took his own life in 2018, aged 28.
According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, up to 50 Britons are struck by lightning every year with, on average, two or three deaths.