An overseas tourist killed by lightning on a NSW mountaintop was electrocuted after he pitched his tent next to a tree that was struck by lightning, police have revealed.
The man, 24, was camping with a 23-year-old woman on the summit of Mount Warning, near Murwillumbah, on Tuesday morning as severe thunderstorms rolled across the state's north.
More QLD News Videos
- Video duration
- 01:39
Lightning strike kills man
Lightning strike kills man
Rescue crews scale Mount Warning to bring down a woman injured in a lightning strike which killed a fellow camper on Tuesday. Nine News
Up Next
Koala joeys learn to wrestle
- Video duration
- 00:56
- Video duration
- 00:56
Koala joeys learn to wrestle
Koala joeys learn to wrestle
Two koala joeys have fun playing and wrestling at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.
Up Next
Hospital patients attack doctors
- Video duration
- 01:28
- Video duration
- 01:28
Hospital patients attack doctors
Hospital patients attack doctors
Thousands of Queensland doctors, nurses and hospital staff are being subjected to an increasing number of violent attacks by patients. 7 News Queensland
Up Next
Bullies told Tyrone to kill himself
- Video duration
- 00:35
- Video duration
- 00:35
Bullies told Tyrone to kill himself
Bullies told Tyrone to kill himself
Brisbane teenager Tyrone Unsworth told a friend "the kids at school keep telling me to go kill myself". Vision: courtesy ABC
Up Next
Camper killed in lightning strike
- Video duration
- 00:35
- Video duration
- 00:35
Camper killed in lightning strike
Camper killed in lightning strike
A man is struck and killed by lightning while camping on top of Mount Warning near Murwillumbah on Tuesday morning. Vision: Channel Seven
Up Next
Gordon Nuttall released from jail
- Video duration
- 00:37
- Video duration
- 00:37
Gordon Nuttall released from jail
Gordon Nuttall released from jail
Disgraced Beattie government MP Gordon Nuttall is released on parole after spending six years behind bars. Ten News: July 20, 2015
Up Next
Free the nipple picnic to 'raise awareness'
- Video duration
- 01:13
- Video duration
- 01:13
Free the nipple picnic to 'raise ...
Free the nipple picnic to 'raise awareness'
A group of women stage a topless picnic at West End in Brisbane on Sunday to demonstrate that taking their tops off is not "indecent".
Lightning strike kills man
Rescue crews scale Mount Warning to bring down a woman injured in a lightning strike which killed a fellow camper on Tuesday. Nine News
Police received a triple zero call about 4.50am after two teenage hikers, from Queensland, came across the injured pair on the mountain near the NSW-Queensland border.
The boys had been hiking to see the sunrise, and performed CPR on the man for at least an hour but he couldn't be revived.
Related Content
Detective Superintendent Wayne Starling from NSW Police said the man who died and his female friend - both United States citizens - had pitched their tent to a tree overnight.
Lightning appears to have struck the tree, travelled through it and then touched the man's feet in the tent, causing "instantaneous" death.
"They [the hikers] couldn't bring him back," Mr Starling told media in Tweed Heads. "It would've been horrific for the woman. She's very shaken.
"These are extraordinary circumstances. It's the first one I've come across like this ... it's just a tragedy."
Camping is prohibited on the summit of Mount Warning. Indigenous elders also ask that non-indigenous people refrain from climbing the mountain as it is sacred in indigenous culture.
The four-hour walk is popular among hikers who usually trek to the summit before dawn as it is dubbed the first place in Australia to see the sunrise.
The last part of the walk is a near-vertical rockface lined with chains. It made the recovery of the man's body "very treacherous," police said.
A NSW Ambulance spokesman said paramedics treated the woman for neck pain and singed hair as a result of the lightning strike. She was taken to Murwillumbah District Hospital for treatment.
Mr Starling said it was "very, very unusual for something like this to happen" and said the woman was "very lucky" to escape with relatively minor injuries.
Though thunderstorms had been rolling through the region, the hikers who discovered the man's body told police that conditions at ground level gave no clue of the thunderstorms above.
"They said the conditions at the base of the mountain were fine, it was only as they got further up the mountain they found the conditions changed severely," Mr Starling said.
"The weather just had a traumatic effect on many peoples' lives last night."
A helicopter was unable to get to the top of the mountain due to the weather so 15 emergency service workers hiked for several hours to retrieve the man's body on a stretcher. Police were in the process of contacting his family overseas on Tuesday afternoon.
Residents in the area said there had been severe thunderstorms throughout Monday night. There was also a sign on Mount Warning, telling hikers not to proceed past a certain point during storms, one resident said.
The rescue follows an evening of damaging thunderstorms across Sydney, as more than 5000 lightning bolts lit up Sydney's sky on Monday evening.
One bolt struck a house in Huntley's Cove, causing it to catch alight, and forcing a woman and her two daughters to flee the home. Another man was struck by lightning while on board a yacht in Church Point in Sydney's north. He was taken to hospital in stable condition.
The storm cell which struck Sydney on Monday soaked both the north and south of the city, including Sydney's northern beaches which received up to 50 millimetres of rain.
Winds of up to 96 km/h lashed the city, causing power outages lasting several hours to 7000 homes and businesses in the Sydney, Hunter and Central Coast regions.
Another drizzly and overcast day is on the way for Sydneysiders, with the possibility of more thunderstorms rolling through the city this afternoon.
Some lightning is expected, but nothing on the scale of the electric show that lit up Sydney's skies on Monday when over 5000 bolts cracked across the city.
"We're going to see patchy light rain in the morning, but then in the afternoon the rain will become a little heavier and we could see some thunderstorms moving through," Weatherzone's senior meteorologist Rob Sharpe said.
"However, they are unlikely to be as powerful and severe as what we saw yesterday afternoon."
At 4.50am, the eye of the storm was directly over Murwillumbah. Photo: Bureau of Meteorology
Because of the thicker cloud coverage expected throughout the day, thunderstorms will have less heat and energy in the atmosphere to work with, meaning any lightning will be less intense and frequent, Mr Sharpe said.
"Thunderstorms are most likely in western and north-western suburbs of Sydney," he said. But because of strong steering winds, any storms that do develop in the west have a "good chance of making it all the way to the coast."
"The rain will mostly clear off by the middle of the evening."
Sydney is expected to reach a muggy 25 degrees in the city on Tuesday, with humidity at 80 per cent, while the western suburbs will reach 28 degrees.
Light showers will continue to linger along the coast on Wednesday before the mercury spikes again on Thursday. A scorching sunny day is on the cards, with 31 degrees expected in the city and 35 degrees in Sydney's west.