Two sisters were killed when struck by lightning while hiking in the southern Norway mountains, officials have said.

Benedicte and Victoria Myrset, aged 18 and 12, from Oslo, died in the mountainous area of Hareid on Sunday.

They were on the Melshorn mountain, a popular destination, when the accident occurred.

A third person, a sister to the pair who has not been named, was seriously hurt and taken to a nearby hospital.

She was later transferred to a bigger hospital in Bergen, which is 191 miles northwest of Oslo and is Norway’s second-largest city.

In a statement, Hareid mayor Bernt Brandal called it “a deeply tragic event” that no one could have predicted because the weather “changed tremendously fast”.

According to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, more than 800 lightning strikes were recorded in the area on Sunday afternoon and early evening.

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