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Passers-by Helped Rescue Boy Struck by Lightning at Fla. Beach

Gal Tziperman Lotan

June 12--When a lightning bolt struck 11-year-old Bowen Tyre's head on Daytona Beach Shores Tuesday, it ripped the bright green mesh on the back of his baseball cap.

His father pulled him out of the water, where they had been fishing.

"He's not breathing," said a woman who called 911.

Bowen, on vacation with his parents from Georgia, was with his father in knee-deep water. People on the beach could see some clouds in the distance, but no storms right above them.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office released the 911 calls from the incident on Thursday.

"It was the first lightning strike. Like, there wasn't even lightning, or rain, or anything. He just got hit," another 911 caller said.

LJ Kuzmovich, owner of the Pure Life Surf School who was on the beach with a group of campers, ran to Bowen and started performing CPR.

Another 911 caller, who said she was with the Pure Life Surf School, stayed on the phone with the emergency dispatcher.

"Oh, there's foam coming out of his mouth," she said. "It's OK, buddy! It's OK, come on!"

She called out instructions to Kuzmovich, timing compressions and telling him to clear the boy's airway.

When paramedics arrived a few minutes after the strike, Bowen was breathing and had a pulse.

"We have two paramedics here, and he is breathing," the Pure Life employee who called 911 told the dispatcher. "He's still unconscious, but he is breathing."

He was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center of Daytona Beach, then to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, where he remained on Thursday.

Doctors at Halifax Health found four small spots where Bowen's brain was bleeding, according to a Volusia County Beach Safety report.

An update on his condition was not available on Thursday.

glotan@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5774

Copyright 2015 - Orlando Sentinel

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